My good friend and colleage, Alex, recently asked me a question that got me thinking: how many people are still actively developing websites with Classic ASP? Yes, I mean good old-fashioned .asp pages. VBScript, ADO, server-side includes, and all that fun stuff.

Alex has been experimenting with some development tools for Classic ASP, including a VS Code extension that can help with things like previewing pages that contain a bunch of INCLUDE files. That led to a discussion about what people are actually using these days to work on Classic ASP sites, and whether there are enough of us dinosaurs left to make tools like that useful.

Personally, I still use Classic ASP every day. My entire website has been running on it for decades, with SQL Server on the back end. I use EditPlus, which is basically just a really good text editor with FTP built in, and I've developed my own little tricks and systems over the years to make working with a large site easier.

So now I'm curious about the rest of you. If you're still using Classic ASP:

- Are you maintaining an old site, or are you still actively adding new features?
- What editor or IDE do you use?
- What database do you use on the back end?
- What little annoyances do you run into regularly?
- Are there features you wish your editor or development tools handled better?
- Have you thought about moving to something newer? If so, what's keeping you on Classic ASP?
- Would you be interested in seeing new Classic ASP tutorials or TechHelp videos?

That last question is especially interesting to me. I made a full Classic ASP course 18 years ago, so it's ancient at this point*. I've also covered some basic ASP in my newer SQL Server Online course because it's a really easy way to show students how to build a simple dynamic web page that can read and write data on a SQL Server.

Obviously there are newer and much more powerful web development platforms available today. I'm not suggesting that Classic ASP is the latest and greatest technology. But I still think it has one major advantage: it's EASY.

If you already know Access VBA, Classic ASP with VBScript feels very familiar. You can learn enough to build a basic dynamic web page without having to learn a giant modern framework, a mountain of dependencies, and seventeen other technologies just to put some database records on a web page. To me, it's a little like BASIC versus C++. There are much more powerful tools available, but sometimes you just want something simple that lets you get the job done.

Once I finish getting a few levels of the SQL Server course I'm currently working on, I've actually been considering going back and revising my old ASP course. Before I put that on the project list, though, I'd really like to know whether there's still an audience for it.

So sound off below.

Are you still using Classic ASP in 2026? What are you using to develop it? What drives you crazy about it? And would you like to see me make some new Classic ASP lessons and TechHelp videos? I'm genuinely curious to see how many of us are still out there.

LLAP
RR

* Yes, I checked. ASP 101 was released in 2008. Damn, I'm old.