Hi, Im a newbie at the whole thing as you can see by my postcount I was going to start learning CSS a while ago but got sidetracked and it never really happened.

 

Anyway, this is my question. I have a CSS template and I'm using it to create a pretty simple website. But what would you use so that I could easily edit everything if I wanted to change something in the future? For example if i wanted to change a link in the menu at the top of the page I don't want to have to go back through each and every page updating the html on each one individualy?

 

I presume you wouldnt reccomend frames/iFrames to load the main content, so what is generally accepted? Ive been reading on the forums a bit about 'CMS' (Content Management Systems?) But I only have FTP acces and dont want to have to go installing anything (if thats how they work?).

 

Any light shed would be appreciated

 

Thanks

 

Lloyd

You have 3 main methods to use and you have spoke about 2 of them

 

1: Frames - Not recommended as they are outdated and very bad coding style

2: CMS - Recommended for content that needs to change often. Data is stored in a database.

3: PHP includes - Ideal for smaller sites but all files need the .php extension. Using a small command you can "include" any file into another php file e.g. a navigation

 

I would recommend cms' as it's much easier and more fun. More and more clients want a cms so it would be a worthwhile learning curve

You have 3 main methods to use and you have spoke about 2 of them

 

1: Frames - Not recommended as they are outdated and very bad coding style

2: CMS - Recommended for content that needs to change often. Data is stored in a database.

3: PHP includes - Ideal for smaller sites but all files need the .php extension. Using a small command you can "include" any file into another php file e.g. a navigation

 

I would recommend cms' as it's much easier and more fun. More and more clients want a cms so it would be a worthwhile learning curve

 

+1 for that, mate. Outstanding explanation!

+1 for that, mate. Outstanding explanation!

Yeah thanks, I think that's just about covered it all! Thank you

 

EDIT: Think im going to go with php includes for now as its a small site, so if I just rename index.htm to index.php from the CSS template that will allow me to use the php include function without messing up the design side right?