title: appSettings vs applicationSettings. appSettings outdated?
body: <p>I've got some questions about two ways to save settings in the web.config.</p>
  
  <p><strong><em>Appsettings</em></strong>:
  Look in web.config</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-xml prettyprint-override"><code>&lt;appSettings&gt;
   &lt;add key="key1" value="value1"/&gt;
   &lt;add key="key2" value="value2"/&gt;
  &lt;/appSettings&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Usage in code-behind</strong>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["key1"];
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong><em>ApplicationSettings/ Properties</em></strong> (autogenerated by using the 'properties'-tab in the project)<br>
  <strong>Look in web.config</strong></p>
  
  <pre class="lang-xml prettyprint-override"><code>&lt;applicationSettings&gt;
      &lt;Projectname.Properties.Settings&gt;
          &lt;setting name="TestEnvironment" serializeAs="String"&gt;
              &lt;value&gt;True&lt;/value&gt;
          &lt;/setting&gt;
      &lt;/Projectname.Properties.Settings&gt;
  &lt;/applicationSettings&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Usage in code-behind</strong>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Properties.Settings.Default.TestEnvironment
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, what's the difference between these two storage possibilities of settings in the web.config?<br>
  As far as I can see, a downside of the appSettings is that you have modify the web.config yourself and the appSettings are not strong typed, where as the applicationSettings are.</p>
  
  <p>Both are replaceable within a web deployment project.</p>
  
  <p>As far as I am concerned, there is <strong>no use for appSettings</strong>. Am I missing something here? Which is the historically seen older one?</p>