master page of include?

[jrahma]

if you had an option to:

1. create a master page and then use <?php echo $pagemaincontent; ?> to put the full content of the page...

or:

2. to have a coded page with table but use include to include the navigation menu, top header and footer?

which one you'll prefer and which one you'll recommend?

[Bonesnap]

Option #2 because if I ever needed to change the menu or footer, etc., I would only need to change it once and it would be reflected throughout my site.