title: Why does MVC look for .aspx and .ascx for both full and partial views?
body: <p>I've just been bitten by a problem where I have a view (FindUser.aspx) trying to render a partial view (FindUser.ascx). The default search paths for views look for a file named after the view in a variety of folders. Rather surprisingly, for views, it looks for a file with the extensions of .aspx or .ascx. And the partial views use the same list.</p>
  
  <p>Because I've got the two files named the same, the view resolution repeatedly finds the page first, and falls into an endless loop.</p>
  
  <p>I know I can fix this either by calling the view and the partial view different names, or by changing my search locations to be .aspx only for views and .ascx only for partial views.</p>
  
  <p>My question is why does MVC default to looking at both extensions? It seems to make more sense that a view == a page == .aspx and a partial view == a control == .ascx. So why muddy the waters?</p>