2. For web server based technologies (SSI, ASP, PHP), firstly not every web site supports these facilities, and secondly, they do put extra processing load on your web server. For most small sites, extra load is not going to make a difference, but if you have a very busy site, it could be straw that broke camel's back.

3. Even if you can live with first two problems, there's still some major issues: Includes can help resolve spaghetti problem on new projects, but what about projects you've already completed and want to update? What about if you plan on using Includes, but didn't realize at start that something was a common fragment? What about if fragment of code you want to replace was something that's too small to bother including every time (like a font name, or a single-word spelling-mistake, or an affiliate link)?

So, at best, Includes can help, but they are far from a panacea.

AN ALTERNATE APPROACH...

If I finished article at this point, you'd probably think I had merely told you (or reminded you!) about a nagging problem, but left you with no solution.

Fortunately there is one, and it's a good one. At beginning of this piece, I reminded you that HTML files are really text files containing HTML computer code. This means you can use text-editing tools to manipulate individual files, or better yet, all your files in one go.

A good Find and Replace program will update all your files easily and very quickly. Better yet, you don't need to be a programmer, and you don't need to understand intricacies of HTML language - it's easy enough for anyone. Another advantage is that unlike editing files manually, there is no possibility of it making a mistake on page number 342 of 427.

While there are many Find and Replace programs on market, it's best to get one that is specifically designed for HTML files. For this reason, I'd recommend Alias Find and Replace, which you can get from: http://www.aliassoftware.com/

This is a nice Windows-based program with a lot of powerful features, but is also easy to use. There's even a free trial download, so you can try out program at no risk.

Once you've got program, you can use it to make global changes across all (or a selection of) your HTML files, stick with plain HTML (and never worry about spaghetti issue again!), or use it as a stepping stone towards Include method.

A FINAL THOUGHT

What many people don't realize when they first create a web site, is that as much or more work can go into updating it, as in writing in first place.

Updating can be particularly painful (and time consuming) if you don't plan ahead, and you do everything manually. So plan ahead, use techniques and tools I've shown you in this article, and you'll be surprised how much easier update process can be.

----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright, S. Tanna, webmaster and publisher of EBookCompiler.com Create your own E-Books that you can give away free to drive massive traffic to your web site, or sell for profit. Download a FREE copy of software today at: http://www.ebookcompiler.com/

Copyright, S. Tanna, webmaster and publisher of EBookCompiler.com Create your own E-Books that you can give away free to drive massive traffic to your web site, or sell for profit. Download a FREE copy of the software today at: http://www.ebookcompiler.com/

Fortunately, there's no need to start renaming any files. You can simply instruct server to treat your ".html" files as ".shtml" files and execute all SSI instructions in them. This can be done with a ".htaccess" file. If you already have one, you'll have to edit it. If you don't, open up a text editor, such as Notepad, and paste following lines into a blank file. Be sure to replace .html with .htm, if you're using that extension.

Options Includes AddType text/html .html AddHandler server-parsed .html

Save file in "All files" mode and name it ".htaccess". Include quotes so that Notepad won't decide to name file ".htaccess.txt".

Changing Your Pages ===================

After .htaccess file has been created, you'll have to make changes to your HTML files. To be on safe side, take backups of them before doing anything. Then, paste HTML you use to generate menu from one of your pages into a blank file. Save file as "navig.html" for example. Next, remove navigation menu from all of your pages. Replace it with following line:

What you're doing is telling server to insert code from "navig.html" into page. This will be done before page is sent to user who has requested it, so anyone visiting your site will merely see a normal HTML file. When you have finished editing your files, connect to your host via FTP and upload ".htaccess" file, "navig.html" file and new versions of your content pages.

Then it is time for true test, trying to visit your site and see what happens. If you have done everything correctly, you should see that your pages look same as before. However, if you make a simple change to "navig.html" file, it will apply to navigation menu of every page. What used to take minutes or even hours can now be done in seconds, giving you possibility to use that valuable time to do something other than changing HTML code of each page separately.