I can relate to your situation almost exactly (except in C#).
It's a very subjective question as to what is best because it all depends on your exact setup, circumstances, and requirements. I'm still fairly new to the deciding what's best for a project but based on my experiences I can let you know what I did.
We went with an N-Tier set up, so we could keep the UI, Logic, and Data separate. This let's us maintain the code easier with the additional separation of concerns.
We went with Masterpages (with WebForms) so we could work on a consistent look and feel for the application. You can further modify things with themes, plus your standard CSS and Javascript. You want to control the layout easily and not force yourself to copy / update code on every page.
When it comes Javascript, it's usually better to not use it directly on the aspx page itself (unless it's very small) as you will benefit from caching in the browser, plus you can also minify the file to allow for quicker/easier downloads. I personally recommend going with jQuery for a framework since it is easy to work with, has a huge community, and is well documented.
Those are of course, just a few things I've done. Whether it's of help to you or not depends on your circumstances. I still have a long way to go and I personally try to read as many blogs on topics I'm curious about, watch training videos when possible, or simply ask targeted questions here (if you can't already find the answers). There is a ton of good information out there and a lot of sample applications that can help you learn new patterns and design methods. In the end, there is no absolute "correct" or "best" way. :)