PHP can do this job too. That may have been more common at the time.
Apache SSI existed before PHP, IIRC.
It’s hard to find a fair benchmark because PHP’s include statement does double-duty and Google only goes back to 2004, but:
By 2007 I think somebody looking for a simple way to put a header and footer on every page would be more likely to choose PHP.
True, but server-side includes were a thing in 1997, and you could do quite a bit with them without having to know PHP.
From my personal experience, I started with SSI before moving into PHP Includes if that helps :)
I started with PHP3 for basic templating :)
SSI always felt nice enough to drop in a plain HTML doc. I still wonder why something like this has never been built into HTML natively.
Same here. It would solve a lot of problems for a lot of people, especially people on Neocities/Nekoweb.
I mean, I can manage OK with sed, m4, or hxincl but most people have managed to avoid UNIX-related brain damage. :)