If you're doing it with CGI, you might want to consider either SSI includes or Iframes. I tend to output my pages from a format, so I'll just leave those examples.

For SSI:

<!--#include virtual=@<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<-->
$header
[download]

With Iframes:

<iframe src="@<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<"
$body
    width="300"
    height="300"
    marginwidth="5"
    marginheight="5"
    scrolling="no"
    hspace="10"
    frameborder="0"></iframe>
[download]

Yeah, I know it's not the most elegant backend solution, but it works well. I use this for headers and navigation and it works well. Note that in the MS world, you will have to name the file .stm, .asp, or .shtml for it to get parsed properly. (With SSI includes)

My system works like this:

• A configuration script is kept for the site that corresponds the area (by FS folder) to a template.
• An Include brings in the header and footer from a .tem file in SSI format.
• Iframes are used for static pages with dynamic content.

An example of how I use Iframes are for our departmental section fronts. The normal section front is static, and information is brought into an Iframe. This means that people can update event information without needing to go in to these other HTML files.

I've explained this poorly. If this sounds like something you'd like to try, e-mail me and I'll be happy to type it in English..... :)