I tried that I get the following error
an error occurred while processing this directive.
As I said I am a total code novice so I could be doing something totally obviously wrong so if you can spot something:
Have a folder called includes, in this folder is a .inc file called test which contains one line of text for the time being.
I slotted the line you gave me into my .shtml file where I want the text to appear.
Then uploaded them all onto my web space.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Rachy