Web programming dynamic content. I'm confused.

zackarya · 06-05-2006, 07:16 PM

I'm trying to understand how to build web pages so that I don't have to have
the same "page" for every little thing I update or what not.

For example:

I have a basic "template" that my entire site uses. I've got the title and some
navigation links at the top of all my pages, but I have the exact same code in
all of my pages to display the title and nav links.

So if I want to change or add or delete one of the links I have to go through
all the pages and edit each one manually. (Actually I use sed and awk to help
ease my pain but still). Since my site follows the same "look" throughout all
of the pages and only the content of the tables or whatnot change slightly, I
would like to do it in a more dynamic way.

Can someone give me some advice on this?

Thanks for your time.

Zackarya

rjtucke · 06-05-2006, 07:42 PM

Which do you want to be dynamic- structure or content?
Also, are you using some sort of development tool?

graemef · 06-05-2006, 07:43 PM

Some of the look can be incorporated into CSS, but maybe you are already doing that. Since I use php a lot even for simple sites I create my own header and footer and just include them in each page. Then I only need to change the code once to have it reflected throughout the site.

macemoneta · 06-05-2006, 07:47 PM

Well, one way to accomplish what you want simply is with SSI - server side includes.

It works like this:

1. In the Apache httpd.conf for the directory, add:

Options Includes

2. Create the file(s) containing the variable content. For example, if you create an "includes" directory in your web document root, you can create an "includes/stuff1.html" file containing a link (or any block of html):

<a href="http://someserver.com/some.html">the link</a>

3. In your html files, you can then replace the link (or any block of html) with something like:



This looks like a comment, but the file specified is inserted at that point in the document, when the document is retrieved.

When you change the include file, then all references are instantly updated.

zackarya · 06-05-2006, 08:56 PM

Thanks for your quick replies.

You guys have me looking in the right direction now. I can't believe the daft way I
was going about it before.

Thanks again!

Zackarya

johnMG · 06-07-2006, 12:56 PM

zackarya, the simplest way to start off for you is to extract the marked up text that's common to all pages and put it into a text file.

Then create a cgi script. Have that script open the text file, fill in the bits that are different for a given page, then print out that page.

xhi · 06-07-2006, 01:30 PM

i would agree with graemef on including a header and footer. i also do that. you could also make a function that will print out a certain part of a page (a nav bar for example) when called.

i am also speaking from a php view..

SSI, wow. i almost forgot about SSI. i havent used SSI for 5 years atleast. i think things like php have put the hurts to SSI usage..

Wim Sturkenboom · 06-08-2006, 03:02 AM

Depending on the needs, you can also have a look at iframes

Code:

<IFRAME SRC="recipe.html" TITLE="The Famous Recipe">
<!-- Alternate content for non-supporting browsers -->
<H2>The Famous Recipe</H2>
<H3>Ingredients</H3>
...
</IFRAME>

Taken from http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/ht...al/iframe.html