Creating a global menu

[inte_rupt]

Have an existing website that I want to set up with Contribute. There's a main
menu on the left with 10+ links (clickable images). Each page has an expanded
menu as well - lot of content.

Would like to save this menu as a separate file, define the menu area as an
editable region & just have that menu file placed there. That way where there
is a change to the menu, I only need to modify the one menu file and it will
change the site globally.

Want to do the same thing with images (header & footer) to allow for global
changes if necessary.

What's the best way to do this?

[ThinkInk]

Create a SSI (with PHP f.i.), best in de root of the site, considering the way
Contribute is handling linking.
Call the file something like menu.inc.php, footer.inc.php, etc....
Provide your client with the url to menu.inc.php in the Bookmarks or explain
the Choose-button in Contribute to open the file menu.inc.php.
Keep the file simple (ul/li or p) .

[inte_rupt]

As the site is already created from MANY html files, I'm wondering if there's a
way to do it in HTML

The menu is composed of graphics which are all in a table cell.

Is there a way to simply create this menu in a separate file and have that
file inserted into that table cell?

Inline frames would probably work, but is there a cleaner way?

[ThinkInk]

Create a normal Template, but make it a PHP template (template.dwt.php) as you
normally do (make sure your provider supports php).

Cut the code of the menu from the template and past it into a new file called
menu.inc.php.

Now place this code where the menu was: <?php include("menu.inc.php"); ?>

That's all there is to it.

[inte_rupt]

Awesome!

Any tricks to making these templates? The "new" file dialogue box has options
for "HTML template" and "PHP", but none for PHP template.

Can I used use one of the above & simply rename it with the filename mentioned
below?

[q]Originally posted by: ThinkInk
Create a normal Template, but make it a PHP template (template.dwt.php) as you
normally do (make sure your provider supports php).

Cut the code of the menu from the template and past it into a new file called
menu.inc.php.

Now place this code where the menu was: <?php include("menu.inc.php"); ?>

That's all there is to it.[/q]

[ThinkInk]

When you use include files you need to be carefull in how you create your site
considering the links to the includes.
The include path in the template is always the same, so the page of your
website all should be at the same level (all in the root, or all in specific
folders one level deep, etc...)