高效且可重复使用的PHP导航栏

Question

I am trying to make a simple PHP template files, and I was wondering how to make an efficient navigation bar.

This is currently what I have:

<nav>
    <ul>
        <!-- If the pageName is equal to the specific page number, make it the active class in styles.css (linked to CSS in head.php) -->
        <li <?php
                if ($pageName === $pageName1) 
                {
                    echo "class = 'active'";
                }
            ?>> 
            <!-- The link to the page (file will be named as the value of pageName1.php) -->
            <!-- Then display the pageName with the first letter of each word capitalized -->
            <?php echo "<a href=" . '"' . $pageName1 . ".php" . '"' . ">" . ucfirst($pageName) . "</a>"; ?>
        </li>
    </ul>
</nav>

It works, but I am wondering if I can make it more efficient and follow better PHP practices.

Answer 1

You can simplify it somewhat by doing the logic at the top and then only outputting variables inside the HTML code.

Also, you should always leave HTML as HTML, and avoid using PHP to output the HTML.

<?php
$active = ($pageName === $pageName1 ? ' class="active"' : '');
?>
<nav>
    <ul>
        <li<?= $active ?>>
            <a href="<?= $pageName1 ?>.php"><?= ucfirst($pageName) ?></a>
        </li>
    </ul>
</nav>