Shannon, If you don't mind one level deep directories you can do a main Application.cfm in the root - which defines the main variables you are going to use (header file, css, meta tags etc.) and contains a <cfapplication> tag. Then, instead of defining different groups of variables for each section, go to each subdirectory and create an Application.cfm file that has <cfinclude template="../application.cfm">. DON'T include a cfapplication tag in these "sub" application.cfm files (don't worry - they will still run) and simply override the variables you are concerned about - header, meta tags, css etc. Think of it as inheriting from a super class and overriding properties and methods <w>. I do this in members only sections where I might have more than one security context so I want to display different navigation etc.
You are right of course, there is a balance to find and a point of diminishing returns. A lot of what you have to overcome is simply the change in routine however. Once you get used to doing it a certain way virtually any change seems like a time waster - witness my aversion to DW and clinging love for cf studio (lol). -Mark -----Original Message----- From: Shannon Rhodes [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 10:45 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: Design Structure and cfinclude We all know that cfinclude is perfect for design headers and footers, but now that I'm actually redesigning my site to take advantage of this, I'm running into some perplexing problems. (Please don't suggest FuseBox, that's way overkill for this site and I don't have the time for it). My initial thought was: set up an Application.cfm and OnRequestEnd.cfm in each major section, which would call a header/footer for that section. I would be able to pass a url variable to request a print-friendly version instead, or to request no display at all (for action only templates). Global variables would be cfparam'ed, and one page title and set of meta tags would be defined per section. Voila, new pages can be content-only without even a cfinclude line---everything would be called by the section's Application.cfm. As I'm getting into this, I'm finding that I don't like the loss of page-specific flexibility. I'm told that dynamically generated meta tags often are missed by search engines, for example, and I don't have a way to override the standard section page title for pages that really ought to have their own title. I'm also stuck with defining all CSS and JS in one long file, even if some style definitions and JS functions are only needed on one page, because I've made the header of my document standardized. Seems to me I'm adding all kinds of unnecessary download time. Plus, my "section specific Application.cfm" idea kind of forces me to model my directories after my site navigation, when I'd actually prefer to avoid a lot of third level directories and keep pages logically grouped instead (after all, navigation sometimes changes over time anyway, but who wants to move directories around). I think I need a balance between letting CF templates "do it all" for me, and the tedious work of writing in each page information that is probably the same 80% of the time in a given section. Can anyone suggest a "best practices" approach to using cfinclude for design elements? Should I hard code in most of the head area of documents, so I can put in page-level titles, meta tags, and page-specific styles & JavaScript, followed by a cfinclude containing the remainder of the head with links to the master style sheet, and any design code that will not change, followed by another include for section-specific design images? Any suggestions are appreciated! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=i:4:137691 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=t:4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm
