Why should you care?

ShopNest needs a customer site and an admin panel. Areas keep admin code separate so URLs and permissions are clear.

See it live — copy this example

Create an MVC project (dotnet new mvc), add the code, and run dotnet run.

// Areas/Admin/Controllers/DashboardController.cs
[Area("Admin")]
public class DashboardController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index() => View();
}

// Program.cs — areas use same MapControllerRoute with {area:exists}

Run Example »

Edit the code and click Run — like W3Schools Try it Yourself.

What happened?

• The [Area("Admin")] attribute tags controllers.
• Views live under Areas/Admin/Views/.
• URL becomes /Admin/Dashboard/Index.

Try it yourself

1. Scaffold an Admin area (dotnet add package or VS scaffold).
2. Add DashboardController in Areas/Admin.
3. Create Index view and browse /Admin/Dashboard.
4. Change text or labels in the example and run again — watch the browser update.
5. Break the code on purpose (remove a semicolon), read the error message, then fix it.

Remember

Areas = mini MVC apps inside one project. Common split: public site vs Admin. Each area has Controllers/ and Views/.