Are there any common pitfalls to avoid when including PHP files that may affect the layout of the page?

When including PHP files that may affect the layout of the page, a common pitfall to avoid is not properly managing the output buffering. If the included file contains any HTML or whitespace outside of PHP tags, it can cause unexpected layout issues. To prevent this, you can use output buffering functions like ob_start() and ob_get_clean() to capture the output of the included file and then include it within the layout without any unwanted whitespace.

<?php
ob_start();
include 'file.php';
$content = ob_get_clean();
echo $content;
?>