Currently, for things like a header, footer or common sidebar object, I create a custom `.php` file and do something along these lines: echo ' '; and then include it on the pages that I want it to appear: include('path/to/file'); The only problem with this is that someone can point their browser to my `.php` file and view part of html on its own. It isn't a huge deal, but it seems unprofessional and a little careless. Is there a better way of doing this?
We had a related question just minutes ago: stackoverflow.com/questions/8189834/phpdefined-or-exit