One of the banes of the web designer is updating “boilerplate” information that is present in many places throughout a web site, such as contact or copyright information, a logo, or hyperlinks. You can place such information on every page that needs it, but when the information changes it can be a tedious and error-prone procedure to hunt down all of its occurrences and revise each individually.
SiteSpinner’s “include” feature makes updating boilerplate information a breeze. You can create an object, position it on the page where you want it, and then set it to be included on any or all other pages in the project. An include object will be added to every page you designate in exactly the same location and with the same attributes as the original object. Then, any moves, transformations, or edits to the object on any page will automatically be applied to it on every page to which it has been included.
Among the benefits of the include option are the following:
You can create a single navigation bar and include it on all your pages. If you need to add or modify it in any way, it will automatically change on all pages in your project.
You can create a web page template by including the common elements to ensure that every page is identical.
You can create common elements that can be shared by more than one page, such as contact information, email addresses, copyright lines, logos, personal portraits, etc.
You can reduce the overall file size of your published web site by telling SiteSpinner™ to use one instance of a resource to be shared among an object and its includes. Establish this setting by deselecting (un-checkmarking) the Unique Includes option on the Components Tab of the Object Editor dialog box. Then when you publish the project, SiteSpinner™ will render only one instance of the resource file (geometry, image, or media), instead one instance per object.
If the included object will have a different background on different pages and the background will be part of the image, then that include object will need to be unique or you will see another page’s background in the object.