Forum Moderators: coopster
<modnote>
header and footer section with nav and left and right content sections.
[edited by: jatar_k at 9:37 pm (utc) on July 1, 2005]
[edit reason] removed url [/edit]
each included file would have that section of the html in it
also the two sides left and right, I would like different content to appear in each one of those based on what is selected on the nav.
ie.
--nav--
about
history
join
-------
*when pushing about I want content to go in left content
* I then choose history it goes in right // about is still present in right
similar to working with <Iframes> and naming the frames... then targeting the frames in the link from the nave
fairly straight forward, I usually do things like this based on the url or the pagename but you would have to look at what identifying factors would be available to have the script decide what file to include.
A good directory structure could be the key.
I usually use a single header and footer on all pages, the include a nav file somewhere, then a single content area which usually is what actually resides in each page. Then sometimes a "right side" that includes other content.
How your scripts know what to include is where you need to figure things out. I always try to stay away from get strings unless I can't design the logic with out them.
I have yet to use them. ;)
Yes you can do this 100% with php
how you do it completely depends on the design and logic.
We can walk through the logic if you like but you will have to describe it to me.
How are you going to make it so php understands what you want it to do? What can php look at to decide what content to load?
obviously I am pretty new to this, but more than willing to learn.
design always starts with identifying the actual requirements, not what different people think the requirements might be but what they actually are. Then figuring out what is at my disposal and then going from there.
From what I can see here
we need a templating system, more or less, that will enable multiple content sections based on where the user navigates to.
I think we know a few things
we will have a header, will this be the same file for every page?
we will have a footer, will this be the same file for every page?
we will have a file for the nav
we will have 2 content sections, what is the purpose of the 2 sections? What will be in each, will one be different on every page and the other be by section? Are they both 100% different all the time?
this might be a good thread to look at also
A dynamic site in 2 minutes [webmasterworld.com]
The idea from a marketing perspective was that the user could receive the information they are requesting while still being exposed to the rotational content... without actually forcing the rotational content into the hard design (template)
*since then there has been some changes based on design limitations, and new knowledge made available.
perhaps a redesign into a more dynamic format is what this icalling for.
well, no problem then, use a single file for the right hand content (rotating content) and build the logic into that.
so really you have your answer, any individual pages could look something like this. Now you could have your nav in the header file or have it as an include in the header. The same goes for your right side content, I would throw the code or an include into the footer and you're off to the races.
Figuring out the logic of how it rotates, or doesn't show at all, can be defined inside that file based on specific pages or for sections of the site.
<added>jsut saw your other post
>> which I have appear in the right content area
I might rethink that functionality and show the form in the main content area if possible, or maybe a new window if it is required to keep the content in the main area.
>> The idea from a marketing perspective
marketing requirements are not always the best thing for the site, oft times they aren't even possible. ;)
I try to understand what they need then provide them a solution within the existing architecture. We always need to find the middle ground between the many perspectives to keep a functional, powerful, easily maintained and user friendly site.
I wish it was as easy to do as it is to type.
hehe, unfortunately those are sometimes the things we have to do.
>> limits the SEO
that's really the primary concern
that's right
the only reason to put it in the header would be ease of maintenance, another option is to have the include for it in the individual files and maintain it in a single file.
<?
include nav.html;
?>
or
require ('templates/nav.html');
each html file in the last example will be able to contain their own keywords/description, which could be useful, but I run into the same problem I saw with using frames, that being the search engine only locating that page and not the entire site.
Suggestions?
$keywords = 'rank me, make me number 1, these keywords rock';
$title = 'Look at my awesome title';
$description = 'this would be the description for the page';
include '/stuff/header.php';
<table>
<tr>
<td>look a bunch of content that is loctaed in each file</td>
</tr>
</table>
include '/stuff/footer.php';
so each file would look like that, having it's cointent actually located in the file, then including header and footer. I set the 3 vars for keywords, title and description before including the header file.
in the header I would have some type of default.
if (!isset($title)) {
$title = 'this is my default super title for the site';
}
and do the same for the other 2 vars. This means any page I forget or if I haven't gotten to them yet will still carry the default title etc. Once I customize each page then they each have their own.
in the header after checking to see if they are set and setting the defaults if not then I do this
<title><?= $title?></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="description" content="<?= $description?>">
<meta name="keywords" content="<?= $keywords?>">
soemthing like that, and then they are output to the browser right where they should be
make sense?
-----------------------------------------
if (!isset($title)) {
$title = 'site - the main title for this site';
}
if (!isset($keywords)) {
$keywords = 'muh, blah, words, yes';
}
if (!isset($description)) {
$description = 'A description of the site.';
}
