Newbie question regarding Menuing

Greetings all

I know there are a couple of threads on this topic already--I have read
they both, but I need a little clarification on process.

I currently have a static XHTML page that consists of:


Banner area
......Weather Info
......Flash Banner
......Event Calendar

Left Bar
......Menu
......Message Scroller
......Counter

Content Area
......iframe to hold this

Right Bar
......About us

Copyright Notice

B a n n e r
Left | Content | Right
C o p y r i g h t

I have created a banner.php, leftbar.php and copyright.php . These
files are referenced in an index.php

<div id="bannerarea">
<div id="weather"> <?php include("weather.php"); ?> </div>
<div id="banner"> <?php include("banner.php"); ?> </div>
<div id="calendar"><script type="text/javascript"
src="calendar.js"></script></div>
</div>
<div id="copyright">
<?php include("copyright.php"); ?>
</div>
<div id="contentarea">

<div id="leftbar">
<div id="menu"><?php include("menu.php"); ?></div>
<div id="message"><script type="text/javascript"
src="scroller.js"></script></div>
<div style="bottom:1%;position:absolute;"><?php
include("counter.php"); ?></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="content">
<?php include(" **Changable Content Here**"); ?>
</div>
</div>

I would like to have a user click on the appropriate menu button and
have the Content div populated. What I read in the long thread on this
topic was to use <a href="index.php?content=news.php>News</a>. And now
the source of my confusion.

1) Does using this format require the creation of a page for each menu
item?

2) The example in the thread does not tell me how the "content=" command
directs the output to the correct div.

3) Is there another way?

As a side note, this is an interim solution while I get a CMS site
designed. Unfortunately, this page is volunteer work so it only gets
attention as other realities allow.

Any assistance would be appreciated, and my apologies for not getting it
the first time...

David

Matthew Baker wrote:
> Greetings all
>
> I know there are a couple of threads on this topic already--I have read
> they both, but I need a little clarification on process.
>
> I currently have a static XHTML page that consists of:
>
>
> Banner area
> .....Weather Info
> .....Flash Banner
> .....Event Calendar
>
> Left Bar
> .....Menu
> .....Message Scroller
> .....Counter
>
> Content Area
> .....iframe to hold this
>
> Right Bar
> .....About us
>
> Copyright Notice
>
> B a n n e r
> Left | Content | Right
> C o p y r i g h t
>
> I have created a banner.php, leftbar.php and copyright.php . These
> files are referenced in an index.php
>
> <div id="bannerarea">
> <div id="weather"> <?php include("weather.php"); ?> </div>
> <div id="banner"> <?php include("banner.php"); ?> </div>
> <div id="calendar"><script type="text/javascript"
> src="calendar.js"></script></div>
> </div>
> <div id="copyright">
> <?php include("copyright.php"); ?>
> </div>
> <div id="contentarea">
>
> <div id="leftbar">
> <div id="menu"><?php include("menu.php"); ?></div>
> <div id="message"><script type="text/javascript"
> src="scroller.js"></script></div>
> <div style="bottom:1%;position:absolute;"><?php
> include("counter.php"); ?></div>
> </div>
> </div>
> <div id="content">
> <?php include(" **Changable Content Here**"); ?>
> </div>
> </div>
>
> I would like to have a user click on the appropriate menu button and
> have the Content div populated. What I read in the long thread on this
> topic was to use <a href="index.php?content=news.php>News</a>. And now
> the source of my confusion.
>
> 1) Does using this format require the creation of a page for each menu
> item?
>
> 2) The example in the thread does not tell me how the "content=" command
> directs the output to the correct div.
>
> 3) Is there another way?
>
> As a side note, this is an interim solution while I get a CMS site
> designed. Unfortunately, this page is volunteer work so it only gets
> attention as other realities allow.
>
> Any assistance would be appreciated, and my apologies for not getting it
> the first time...
>
> David
>

That's a way to do it if you're using one of several CMS's. there are
many other ways. For instance, if you have individual pages, you could
just put the link to "mynewpage.php". You could create AJAX requests
and populate the area (see comp.lang.javascript). There are other ways,
also, depending on what other CMS you're using.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================