A Server Side Include is a type of macro that can be expanded at the time the Web server is sending
the document to the browser. Special tags embedded in an HTML document are recognized as instructions
to the server to perform a substitution for the tag. Basically, they give the server the ability to
automatically insert one file into another transforming static documents into dynamic tools.
Have you ever been to a website that gives back information about you? These websites are most
likely using Server Side Includes.
When companies want to deliver customized content to each client but don't necessarily need the in-depth
mechanics of a CGI program, server side includes my be just the right thing. As the name implies, text is
included in the document on the server side, before the document is shipped back to the client. Usually, most
of the document is static, with just a few insertions here and there. The insertion points are marked with
special HTML comments that indicate the kind of data to be inserted. The server inspects each document,
looking for the special comments. When one is found, the comment is removed and the desired content is
inserted in its place. From the client's perspective, the document appears to have contained the text from
the very beginning, with all traces of the special comments having been removed by the server
(1).
credits:
(1) Chuck Musciano, netscapeworld.com
