Adding a .shtml menu to save time.

ANNIHILATOR1 · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 3

Hi guys,

I am fairly new to HTML and am working off my own head learning from the internet. I have built a website with various pages using basic HTML. I have been adding code to every page for my menu to appear on every page exactly the same.

I have since heard that by using the .shtml command I could do away with this code on every page and just include the mainmenu.shtml file instead.
My host does accept .shtml files so I am ok to use them.

Now the problem lies when trying to find exactly what to type and how to save my menu file.

I have cut and pasted my old menu code from my index file into a new notepad page and named it mainmenu.shtml (is this correct)?

Then I have inserted this command on my index page where my menu code used to be, 

Should I now save my index as a .shtml file? Should I rename all the other files in my pages from .html to .shtml?

Any advice would be welcome as I am pulling my hair out here.

Cheers.

By the way the website is www.freebidz.co.uk, I know the layout is a mess but as I am learning I will get there in the end.

Corey Bryant · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:19 am

Included Content should help you out.

You should be able to name you file mainmenu.html - it does not need to be named shtml (I don't recommend it to be named shtml because that will be parsed as well). Sometimes some hosting companies require you to use .inc or .txt files for file includes instead.

The only file name that needs to have the shtml extension would be the one that contains the code

ANNIHILATOR1 · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 3

Thanks for replying.

I have tried again but still no joy. I have tried using both file incude and virtual include. Not sure what the difference is but neither are working as yet.

I get my main content to work but at the top of the screen it has <--#include file="/mainmenu.html" -->

My index file is the one with the code in so I renamed that index.shtml, here is a portion of my code to show you what I have done.

<table width="1000">





<td width="800" valign="top" bgcolor="#000CCC" align="center"><align="left"><img src="http://www.freebidz.co.uk/images/carling.jpg"><img src="http://www.freebidz.co.uk/freebidz/images/CLUB HEADER.jpg ">
<align="right"><img src="http://www.freebidz.co.uk/images/carling.jpg">
 The best watering hole in town!
 The best entertainment in town!
 The best place to socialise - FULL STOP!

Am I doing this all wrong?

Corey Bryant · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 4:41 am

If you use