Server Side Includes - introduction

By Keith Martin

Server-Side Includes (SSI) are incredibly useful for incorporating separate files into a single Web page and allowing content to be altered without touching the main page document itself. Such 'includes' files can be graphic or text files. With text includes, any formatting code in the included file will be treated as part of the main HTML document. In fact, as far as the Web browser is concerned, it has, as the server does the merging when someone asks for the file. All they ever see is the combined result.

One excellent use for SSI is to provide a safe way for a client to update parts of a Web site without risking them messing up whole pages through typing slips. You can put an SSI reference anywhere in a Web page, and the included file can be stored in an entirely separate folder on the server. Sort out a limited-access name and password for that folder, and the rest of the site will be safe from unauthorised meddling. The ISP that hosts the Web space has to allow SSI; some will have this turned off by default, as it causes a slightly greater load on the server.

Here we look at using SSI with Dreamweaver and Freeway, two powerful Web production tools which work in very different ways.

Begin the Workshop

Here, the content section of this page is edited on a regular basis by the client, but the rest of the page is never touched. By using SSI and providing a template file for the client to update, the site designer and the customer are both kept happy; updates are made at the whim of the client, while the designer’s site document remains the definitive master.