Are there alternative methods to including scripts in PHP that can achieve the desired design and functionality without stressing the web server unnecessarily?

Using alternative methods such as using a content delivery network (CDN) to host common scripts, minifying and bundling scripts, and utilizing asynchronous loading can help reduce the stress on the web server when including scripts in PHP.

// Example of using a CDN to include a script
echo '<script src="https://cdn.example.com/script.js"></script>';