In this tutorial I will be showing you how you can setup a simple php page navigation system. By “navigation system” I mean a script that allows you to move between pages without having to edit loads of files. For example, if you want to edit a link when you have loads of html pages you have to go through them all and edit all the pages. This can take hours, but with this system you can simple edit one file and all that work is done for you. Ok, let’s get on with the tutorial. First of all we need an index.php page, this will contain all the information/image you want your core site to have, by saying “core” site I mean the information/images that will be on EVERY page of your site. Note: Please do NOT include any content on this page, this will be included later on.

Once you have your index.php setup, then this is where the script gets installed into your website. Simply, find the place you want your content to be and insert the following code (If you’re using Dreamweaver make sure your in code view):
Once you have put this code in your index.php you need to setup the content files. These files contain only the content and not the core information/images. For example you will need to setup the error.php file, this will be shown if the wrong URL is entered. In the error.php file you just need the content, My error.php file contains the following:

This file gets placed in the root location of your website. The next thing to do is to setup the home.php file; this is the file that all visitors will see when they first come to your site. So you may want to make it include an introduction and/or news. An example of this could be:

Ok, now you have your pages setup, now I think I show you how to get to them. All you need to do is type into your url: http://yourdomain.com/?page=pagename, replacing “pagename” with the name of the page you wish to visit. If you want to take this to the next level you could even use Mod_ReWrite, this could make it look like you are using html files but really you are not. This can also help with SEO.

To do this, just add the following code to a “.htaccess” file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/$ /?page=home [L]

That will make your links appear as the following:

Home Page = http://yourdomain.com/home.html
Error Page = http://yourdomain.com/error.html
Contact Us Page = http://yourdomain.com/contactus.html

Thank you for reading this tutorial, if you have any questions then please email me :), Thank you.