[thelist] Use PHP for content?

Ray Hill lists at prydain.com
Fri Nov 22 13:01:01 CST 2002


> actually, XSSI (extended server side includes) does
> include logic capabilities
>
> XSSI is a standard feature of apache, if i'm not mistaken
>
> here's a "smart" nav bar that senses what page it's on --
> http://lists.evolt.org/index.cfm/a/harvest/b/detail/c/_/d/3803

So if you want to write a more complex link (maybe a table with specific
borders to represent a tab, or whatever else), you would have to write a
big, bloated <!--#if-->/<!--#else--> argument for each one, instead of
writing a single function and just passing in the bits that change?  And how
does XSSI deal with arrays, for things like writing crumb trails?  And how
about objects?

Basically, my argument is that if you're going to go through the trouble to
add dynamic aspects to a page, why not use a technology that was built
specifically for that (like PHP) instead of one that appears to be designed
for something much more basic and extended to do a little bit more.

Besides, if I had to read someone else's code in XSSI where the code itself
visually blends in with the HTML comments, I'd go mad.  I had to deal with a
home-grown language with a similar syntax once, and there was a distinct
loss in productivity for the time I spent trying to read code that *should*
have been simple and straight-forward.


But this is getting completely off the original topic of whether or not PHP
is useful for content, so I'll leave it at that.

--ray





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