As a newbie to both these challenges, would there be any great advantage in choosing one or the other?

At the moment I would just want to 'include' certain sections of my pages (menus, footers etc), but in the future who knows??

Are they just as easy/difficult to learn and code?

PHP

Not only is it easier to use IMHO, but it offers so much more then SSI. So, if you may want to do more in the future, you're already using the right technology.

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