Sams Teach Yourself CGI in 24 Hours, Second Edition

Designing Pages Using SSI

Now that you understand the mechanics of SSI, let’s take a look at how to use them to create dynamic sites and to make your sites easier to maintain.

Using the #include Directive

The most commonly used SSI directive is #include because it can save tons of labor for Web designers, especially when the time comes to update a site long after it was designed.

Let’s say you’ve created a site that has 200 HTML pages. Some of them are index pages that provide links into the site, and others are pages with articles or other content for the user to read. However, one thing that they all have in common is a navigation bar and copyright statement at the bottom of the page. When you create the site, it’s easy enough to use a common ...