I want to change HTML Pages but not sure how to navigate through PHP code

[bigcat1967]

When will I learn my lesson???

I posted the below on other forums but nobody replied back. I have to come here first from here on out because I know I'll get good answers:

First of all, I hope I explained everything clearly - if not - please tell me. Now here is my crazy question:

I’ve had problems in the past going into client’s websites and trying to find various folders that would house the index and internal pages. I don’t know PHP that much and I would ask the owner of the site where I could find certain pages so that I could do some on-site optimization. The owner wouldn’t know so I would proceed to ask him/her if I could get a hold of the website developer to ask the above questions. Sometimes I could get a hold of him – other times, I could not.

I guess my question is this: Is there a way to go in and know for sure that I can get to the pages that need optimized and not mess w/ the PHP code? Are pages stored in a “universal” folder (in which I doubt) or are they named to whatever the developer wanted them to be named? How is this done?

I am no means a PHP developer…I know HTML and CSS (along w/ JavaScript) but that is about it. Maybe I should outsource it to a developer?

 

[djbaxter]

Sites should all be organized logically but often they are not, or at least not in any logical way that is apparent to someone other than the developer.

That said, the main difference in PHP sites is that they are usually built around modules that are "included" in the main PHP pages, starting with index.php as the typical default page (i.e., equivalent to index.html).

Look in index.php as a starting place to see what other files are being included. Then look for pages titled something like header.php or sometimes header.tpl or header.inc for what would normally be in the < head > section, assuming it's not already in index.php.