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Moving from html to a template site

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Batcoder

So Halfdeck and I are using this as a test site for me, I built the main part of Halfdeck consulting just using HTML and CSS.  One of the reasons platforms like Word Press are so popular is that  the site owner can focus on building content and not have to worry so much about how the site will look.  So after putting up a basic site using html and CSS unless there is a template or wrapper, all of the the links on the sidebar, navigation, footer, etc. need to be changed on each page.

Creating a basic template using php is not that complex – I’m sure I’m presenting a simplistic view however, this is all one needs to do to create a simple template.  By breaking out the main repeatable elements in the site into different areas, typically header, footer, sidebar navigation content and navigation you can put these elements in each page and then make changes once and it will change these elements throughout the site.  These elements are typically put in a folder called includes.  With just adding a single line of php code, everything from that related includes file will be added to the main page.  No matter who you hire to help you with web development or if you are planning on doing it yourself – ask them if they focus on reusable code and what steps do they take to plan for expansion of the site in the future.

I think this important to point out that while this is something very basic, not every single web developer takes the time to make a template, especially if a site starts out with only 5 or six pages.  Then when the site owner wants to expand sometime later a template format makes it easier for either the site owner or the web developer to add unlimited number of new pages.

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