# DRY question (newbie) **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 25, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726 "2006-07-25T05:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/masonkessinger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726/1 "2006-07-25T05:02:09Z")
Say i want to include the same chunck of text (a menu on a webpage for example) on each page. Is there a method by which I can save the HTML in a text file and call it up later? Is there a better way? I know ruby has “puts” but i can’t use that b/c it does not work with my webhost ([dreamhost.com](http://dreamhost.com)) Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/masonkessinger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726/2 "2006-07-25T05:13:47Z")
For a menu you would usually put that in a layout, then in your controllers you can specify that layout using… layout “mylayout” Inside your layout you would do something like… ...head stuff... ...menu bar html... \<%= yield %\> The \<%= yield%\> line puts what would usually be appearing without a layout in its place. Good Luck! ~Jamie [www.jamiequint.com](http://www.jamiequint.com) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/masonkessinger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726/3 "2006-07-25T05:17:10Z")
If you want the menu system to be available to your entire application, put it in /app/views/layouts/application.rhtml. It will automatiaclly be used by all controllers without having to use the layout command at the top of each controller. ---
**Author:** ![masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/masonkessinger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726/4 "2006-07-25T05:23:42Z")
For something like a nav, that will appear on all pages, a layout is what you want to use, like Jamie mentioned. If you have a chunk of html that will be used on some pages, but not all, look into using a partial. -TJ ---
**Author:** ![masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/masonkessinger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726/5 "2006-07-25T05:17:00Z")
You want layouts… Create ./app/views/layouts/application.rhtml Try something like * * * Hello World from the header! \<%= @content\_for\_layout %\> Hello world form the footer! * * * ---
**Author:** ![masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/masonkessinger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726/6 "2006-07-25T06:41:59Z")
On 7/25/06, Daniel N [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > Cheers I probably should add that this method is only really useful when the menu changes per view. Otherwise as others have suggested, stick it in the layout or a partial. ---
**Author:** ![masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/4da419/32.png) [@masonkessinger](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/masonkessinger)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/dry-question-newbie/99726/7 "2006-07-25T05:26:55Z")
On 7/25/06, Stephen [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hello world form the footer! > > > ## example) on each page. Is there a method by which I can save the HTML in > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) Another alternative to this is to use the content\_for method In you view \<% content\_for( “menu”) do %\> erb for menu here \<% end %\> and then in your layout \<%= yield :menu %\> This should put your menu code in. If it’s not right I’ll check then syntax when I get home Cheers