title: How to use Zend Framework for layouts only?
body: <p>I was recently brought on to help with a project that was made up of individual HTML files with the exception of a PHP contact form. So there's not even a hint of object oriented programming, MVC, or layouts (or even PHP for that matter).</p>
  
  <p>The project is quite large, but I wanted to slowly integrate the Zend Framework into this project, mostly to start using layouts. There are so many redundancies that it is such a waste of time to make small updates that should have been made in one file.</p>
  
  <p>In the early days of PHP, you could separate your content blocks by including them in each page (a header and footer for example). Now, using MVC frameworks like the Zend Framework, you can create layout files that include the individual page content (views) using a view helper. I really like this because it means I only have to "include" my header, or footer, in one place.</p>
  
  <p>However, I'm not sure how this would work without dispatching/bootstrapping the application (i.e. using the Zend Framework MVC components as standalone components instead). What would be the best approach to switching the site over to use layouts? How would it work? Is this even a good idea?</p>