Woah, that seems a little extreme! For one thing, your relying on the javascript always working (and switched on). Secondly, surely it's not much of a stretch for a designer to understand something like:

<h1><%= _header %></h1>
<ul>
<asp:Repeater ID="_rptNav" runat="server">
<ItemTemplate>
<li>
<a href="<%#Eval("Href") %>"><%#Eval("Name") %></a>
</li>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
</ul>

<div id="content">
<p><%= _content %></p>
</div>

Most of these guys work similar constructs in PHP, Rails etc. You definitely have a point about using good HTML though, rather than throwing a mountain of server controls at them!

Doh! Try again:

<h1><%= _header %></h1>
<ul>
<asp:Repeater ID="_rptNav" runat="server">
<ItemTemplate>
<li>
<a href="<%#Eval("Href") %>"><%#Eval("Name") %></a>
</li>
</ItemTemplate>
</asp:Repeater>
</ul>

<div id="content">
<%= _content %>
</div>

This is great! One question: Is there any way around the authentication issue? I have a portal which requires a login/password. Am I out of luck? --thanks