Create a valid HTML 5 template using PHP Includes

Beginner's tutorial on how to create a valid HTML 5 template that uses PHP includes ("require" actually) that assembles the code on the server. A stepping stone exercise in between coding by hand and having a fully dynamic database-driven site.

[franciscobrunofilgueirasde]

I am begginer in Wordpress and I had no idea how these includes in PHP would work now everything seems much clearer, thanks a million for that this is a big step to understand more complicated code.

[alpacamale]

this video is the best. This is basically what everyone searches when they're a newbie and ultimately find some guy with a hello world tutorial. But in this case this is exactly what I need, thanks, man!

[sarawalker]

Excellent tutorial. I've avoided using php and includes in my websites for years. You took the "scary" out of it and I actually understand it now. Thank you!!

[lforbes]

Thank you. This is awesome. I have done HTML 5 and CSS3 hand built sites but I wanted to convert my themes into WordPress which uses PHP. I really wanted to figure out how it worked and this tutorial has helped a lot with the explanation of the commands.

[PhilThomNewEra]

Eric you are an excellent teacher, one of the best that I have seen on youtube

[jerryh]

Clear instructions and well paced so the tutorial was easy to follow. Thanks.

[ambetdragon]

After 6 houres of debugging your video saved my ass, thanks man ;)

[samhudge]

Thank you very much. You are a very good teacher. You teach things very clearly for anyone new to PHP like me :)

[LennyThroughParadise]

Very clear, well explained tutorial. I like it. 👍

[estefaniakebula]

love you!!!! :-) Thank you for this good tutorial!!!

[EricGirouard]

Make sure you use root relative paths in your links within the nav.php include.
A root relative path always starts with a forward slash character: /
and defines the path to a file starting from the top level (like www.acme.com/) of the site.

[stevo]

Awesome video. Is there a step two or other videos to watch after this one?

[EricGirouard]

Sure! No problem.

But... most problems are related to the includes path. Apache and PHP do not share the same root and that causes many problems. Make sure your path is correct. A missing slash or period can make all the difference. Also make sure that Apache and PHP are running properly.

You can always send me an email via the contact form on heliomedia com.

[ReamusWilson]

... awesome, it would have been great if you enlarged your code text during tutorial ... thanks for the share ... 

[AntonDaniels]

I would advise against using Dreamweaver. There is useful information in this video, but a lot of filler. If you are looking to learn how to use includes, you probably have a good understanding of how to develop websites. There is a shorter, more complete video on how to use includes on my channel... cheers!

[KuyaKavinProductions]

So when creating a complete website we would be using .html files correct? I am trying to implement php tags but when I use it on Dreamweaver CS6 the letterings doesn't turn red.

[AdilMoody]

we should use these 3lignes of php in every page we add to the website??

[alliaskistrust]

how do you get the navigation to work. I have it set up like and the nav isn't working

[krims]

Can you explain how to use includes with .htaccess? So the includes directory will be set only once. Currently it is very annoying to write $IND_DIR = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']; in every page. Specially if I have dozens of pages and $INC_DIR location must be changed, very time consuming and also eating memory in every single page.

[stephen]

I copy exactly what you did with notepad plus plus. I made the files and saved them onto my computer. When I open the index file with a browser the top part of the website and the footer doesn't show. Would I be able to test this template using only notepad plus plus and files on my computer? Is there a program I need to have for the PHP to work on my computer?