How to create dynamic, custom PHP page titles

header.php

In your header.php file, change <title>Same Title Everywhere</title> to the following:

<?php
  if (isset($title)) {
    echo$title . " | Site Name";
  }
  else {
    echo"Site Name";
  }
?>

Change Site Name to the name of your site.

For example, my trading card post <title> tag looks like this:

<?php
  if (isset($title)) {
    echo$title . " | portia's post";
  }
  else {
    echo "portia's post";
  }
?>

What it means/does

if (isset($title)) {
    echo$title . " | Site Name";
}

If you’ve defined $title in your other pages, it will display with a | as a separator, plus your site name. e.g. About | Autistic Jane.

else {
    echo "Site Name";
}

If not, it will display your site name as a fallback, e.g. Autistic Jane.

Every single page

Before you call header.php, you need to define $title.

<?php
  $title = 'Page Title';
  include('header.php');
?>

e.g.

<?php
  $title = 'About';
  include('header.php');
?>

If you’re using a multi-page PHP file, e.g.

<?php
  if (!$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) { //first page content that only stays on first page ?>
page stuff
<?php
  }
  elseif ($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] == "collecting") { // another page ?>
oh another page
<?php
  } // close everything
?>

Then it will need to look like this:

<?php
  if (!$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) { // main page
    $title = 'Page Title';
    include('header.php');
?>
yada yada
<?php
  }
  elseif ($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] == "page") { // another page
    $title = 'Another Page Title';
    include('header.php');
?>

There was another way I used to do this that didn’t require $title to be defined first, but I can’t find it at the moment.

I’ll update this post if I do.

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