Forum Moderators: buckworks
I want to create a page header with my logo and a horizontal navigation bar (with drop down menus), and not have to copy the entire code into every page of my site. That way, if the ten or twelve pages need to be changed, I could simply change the "Header". It seems to me that this could be done in a manner similar to an external style sheet, but I haven't been able to find information on how to do it.
I don't expect someone to write the code for me, just point me in the right direction, and I'll learn how to do it. So far, I'm not even sure what words to look for (header and template are in the indexes of my books, and they get millions of hits with google, but I haven't managed to get on the right track yet).
Any help would be appreciated,
Bo
Marshall
Finally, I tried validating the code and got an error message saying "The tag name "?php" is not in the HTML Configuration". With that, I am trying to figure out what to do next (looking up "Configuration" in books, googling, W#, etc. etc.). I did try to download a php file (I think it was PHP.ini) from a W3 link, but it was a BZ2 file and Windows couldn't open it.
I just thought that since I have sincerely tried to do this without bothering you guys again, you might be able to tell me a little more about what I should do next.
Any help will be appreciated. By the way, I am basically writing HTML (4.01 transitional?) and my editor is HOMESITE.
Thanks again,
Bo
Server Side Includes (.shtml) are a server-based technology designed to do precisely what you want to do - include files or program output within a static page.
Summary: Use the right tool for the job.
</opinion>
As for it not working, did you do a basic "hello world" script in PHP to make sure PHP is properly working on your server?
IMO, it would be much easier to learn SSI than a scripting language at this point. Try this:
Contents of include_me.txt:
<p>This is my included content. IF you see me, SSI's are working.</p>
Contents of test.shtml:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>SSI Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>SSI Test</h1>
<p>You should see the contents of include_me.txt below:</p>
<!--#include file="include_me.txt" -->
</body>
</html>
Upload them to the same directory on your server and request test.shtml from your browser.
The .shtml extension is what tells the server to parse the file, looking for the include directives. If you don't like the idea of naming your files with the .shtml extension, ask your ISP to set your server configuration to parse all .html or .htm files for server-side includes.
As of now, I have at least a couple of test pages working in SSI (I still haven't had any luck with php, but I'll worry about that later), and I will expand their usefulness as I go.
Again, thank you. Please let me take this opportunity to tell you that all my life, I have helped people with carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and automobile maintenance, to name a few. Now, however, as much as my friends would like to help me, they know nothing about computers. If I ever get good at this stuff, I will certainly "pay it forward", as it was put in one the replies to a problem a little while back. Basically, I am saying that I do not come to you guys out of laziness. I really try to figure the stuff out myself, and if I had anybody local to turn to, I would ask them for help first. Well, that's about it. I just want you to know that I am trying very hard at learning this stuff, and I sincerely appreciate your help.
Bo
If you want to store the included file in a directory NOT in the same directory as the included file:
test.shtml
/included_files/include_me.txt
Use the #include virtual directive instead:
<!--#include virtual="/included_files/include_me.txt" -->
Bo
