Scary Disconnect

The day before yesterday, when I received that rejection form letter from the only library in town that would consider hiring me, I submitted my resume for a web master position somewhere else in retaliation. That night, I received a request for an interview! I had to pass on the first proferred appointment, since it was in the middle of my shift at CeDIR, but I may have one next week.

In preparation, my boyfriend made me go through PHP tutorials for an hour or two. I already knew the basics of the basics, but he gave me some exercises to practice making forms and writing to open files. Today I put the new methods to work, reformatting one of the games on the Kids' Corner website. Truth or Lie originally consisted of a bunch of HTML documents, each with a response to the answer the litte players clicked on. Inefficient, to say the least. I put in some radio buttons, and voila!

Here's where things got interesting. I IM'd C. to report. Conversation snippet:

Me [2:03 PM]:
I redid the Truth or Lie game for Kids' Corner so there's only one page instead of 21. I could also reconfigure the site with server side includes so it's easier to edit in the future. Should I?
C. [2:04 PM]:
on the current server we can't do server side includes
so no need
‎‎Me‎‎ [2:04 PM]:
Can it handle PHP at all?
C. [2:04 PM]:
yeah
just not the includes

If I was a character in a comic strip, the thought bubble above my head at this point would have read, "...."

I switched IM windows.

Me [2:05 PM]:
Have you ever heard of a server that can handle PHP, but not includes?
Boyfriend in computing lab [2:05 PM]:
No.
Me [2:05 PM]:
Apparently ours does.
Boyfriend in computing lab [2:05 PM]:
If it can handle PHP, it can handle includes.
No.
No no no no no

And then he broke.

Now, I have all the respect in the world for C. as a librarian. But saying a server can handle PHP but not SSI is like saying "My computer can handle MS Word, but it can't do the 'tables' thing" (a modification of irate sweetie's more strongly worded example). The only possible explanation I have for this belief is that the person who coded the most recent CeDIR website messed up his syntax, then assumed the resulting error was the server's fault.

Unfortunately, I have no spine. And the building is staffed by a total of four people, so I don't like to make waves. I said nothing and just updated links on the HTML files with a mass Dreamweaver Find/Replace. Hopefully, no one will want that website updated for another 10 years, because I'm sure as heck not doing it.