inserting external pages in html

[QuizToon]

I am trying to make a web site for a friend of mine. I was wondering if there is an easy way of including external files into the web page. I have been told that using frames is not the best way to design web pages, but this would mean amending every web page with the menu on should it change.

For example I have designed the menu in photoshop and it currently has 8 links to other pages on his proposed site. If I added a 9yth link I would have to amend the other 8 pages to include the extra link.

Is there a way I can have a seperate page for the links and script and then just include that page in each page, then I would only need to make the changes once.

Incidentally, is there anything wring with using frames pages or could I just use an inline frame on the main page.

Bit confused as to the best way to preceed.

Hope you can help

Thanks in advance

[jscheuer1]

I'm going to buck trends a bit and say, that there is nothing wrong with frames or iframes and that they are the only simple way to do this using only HTML. Just as with anything else, they need to be done right and certain considerations apply. The easiest method of the two would be having an iframe on each page that contains the menu. The two biggest considerations are; not all browsers support frames and iframes (that is less and less of a consideration these days), and if your menu employs drop downs, they will not be able to drop down over the frame or iframe border. If you expand your choice of methods beyond HTML, then server side languages like PHP can be used that will include external content on a page. Javascript can be used to include files but, it relies upon the user having it enabled. So, all things considered, a server side include is the best method, with frames or iframes a close second.