Acceptable website navigation methods?

Question

In the past I have created websites with navigation that is aided by php $_GET variables. There was a layout that was implemented, and then content that was included based on the variable passed into the URL.

I am now creating a website without any server-side help. I am wondering what are good ways to navigate pages without the redundancy of having the layout repeated in multiple html files.

What kind of navigation methods have you used in the past, and what did you think was the most acceptable/cleanest?

Answer 1

You mean you have all static files? Maybe you can use AJAX?

Answer 2

It's not very clear what kind of limitations you've been stuck with, but let's try:

1. if you've got a web server and the server is Apache consider Server Side Includes;
2. if you're running a static site from a CD or such you can use a preprocessor to create the static pages including the menu at compile time. Google for 'HTML preprocessor', there are scores of them;
3. they're rightly despised and 'so last century', but have you considered HTML frames?