Creating html page header with php

Question

Firstly I'm very new to web development so forgive me if this is a stupid or repeated question.

All my web pages have the same header so I simply add the following line to the top of every page:

    <?php require('header.html') ?>

This works fine. But now I'd like to vary the image in the header depending on which page it is on. I'm thinking about using a php function like this:

    function create_header($image){
        //1. echo contents of header.html

        //2. replace default image location with $image if not null
    }

Problem is I don't know how to do steps 1 or 2. Is this possible and/or is there a better way of doing what I want?

Jared · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-14 13:49:35Z

1

You should use some basic form of templating.

Let's say your header looks like this:

<div id="header">
    <img src="images/myimage.jpg" alt="" />
    <h1>Welcome to my site!</h1>
</div>

If we modify it to turn the image into a variable we get this:

<div id="header">
    <img src="images/<?php echo $header_image; ?>" alt="" />
    <h1>Welcome to my site!</h1>
</div>

Now all you have to do is set your variable before you include your header file like so:

<?php
$header_image = "image2.jpg";
include "header.html";
?>

This concept of basic templating can be applied to an entire page template and is not limited to header files.

answered Jul 14, 2011 at 13:49

Jared

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2 Comments

David Over a year ago

What would be the best way of using a default image with this method?

Jared Over a year ago

There are a few ways you can set a default with this method. If you have a config file that you include throughout the site you can add the default there. Just make sure if you are overriding the default that you do it after you have included the config. The second method would be to use an if statement inside the header file and check to see if your variable has been set and if not set it to your default image.

Alex Turpin · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-14 13:45:04Z

1

You could always use a PHP page for your header, and pass it whatever image you wanted through GET.

header.php

<?php
    if (isset($_GET['img']))
        echo '<img src="' . $_GET['img'] . '">'; //The brackets allow for complex variables in double quoted strings
    else
        echo '<img src="default_header.png">'
?>

page.php

<?php
    function create_header($image) {
       require('header.php?img=' . $image);
    }
?>

answered Jul 14, 2011 at 13:45

Alex Turpin

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1 Comment

Steve Nguyen Over a year ago

Just leave out the function create_header($image) {.... and only use the require('header.php?img=' . $image); since all his pages have headers. A function is not needed and would be extra code. e.g. require('header.php?img=index'); would load the index header image, etc..

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