JavaScript vs. Server-Side Includes

[Bill Drew]

John R. Little wrote:
> 
> I have a question regarding server performance issues of
> Server-Side Includes (SSI).
> 
> Recently Sam Khosh-khui posted a question about using
> JavaScript to automatically generate the last-modified date
> for inclusion in web pages.  Christopher Lock responded
> with a few tips and mentioned that he wanted to use
> JavaScript to replace the similar SSI technique.  Chris
> mentioned that the SSI technique "entails a nontrivial
> performance hit on the server."

I would disagree with Chris.  We use SSI on our pages using the last
modified date where it would be most appropriate.  The demand on our
server is little different before we used SSI.  The benefits of SSI far
outweigh any negatives.


> In this case, will the JavaScript really be more efficient
> in terms of passing processing demand off to the client? It
> would seem like the processing power necessary to identify
> the last modified date of any particular file on a web
> server will still rely on server processing power rather
> than client processing power.  The difference being that if
> I enable SSI for the entire web site, the httpd will search
> for Imbedded SSIs in each and every file served. 

On our server it only searches files with the extension of htmlx for
SSI, not every file.  You will probably find it to be the case on most
servers that only certain file "types" are processed for SSI.

--
Wilfred Drew (Call me "Bill"); Associate Librarian (Systems, Reference)
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