Understanding the runat server attribute

Question

I\'m really new to ASP.NET. I was just checking out a default ASP.NET web application. It comes by default with a few pages (Default.aspx, About.aspx etc).

I notice

Answer 1

The runat attribute basically tells ASP.Net that it needs to parse the element, its attributes and it's contents as a server control. Enabling code, on the server, to be executed to configure the response.

Without it, any child controls contained within the section will not get parsed. So, any dynamic header includes, title manipulations or any other server-controls will not be interpreted.