Tag: server-side include

Conditional SSI

I was having trouble writing a javascript that sniffs the browser for IE or non-IE, then selects a server side include (SSI) based on the result.

It turned out that you cant do that with javascript: first of all it seems to mis-read the include string:

document.write('<!--# include virtual="includes/safety.htm" -->');

The browser sees this as comment and lops everything off after the (‘ even though the string has quotes around it. If I use a to escape the ! as !, then it simply writes the whole string out to the page, rather than interpreting it.

Apparently this is because SSI’s are evaluated on the server, so they are already executed before the browser renders the page – so by the time my page gets rendered, it’s too late.

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