In what situations should PHP includes be used sparingly or avoided altogether to prevent layout or functionality issues on a website?

Using PHP includes should be used sparingly or avoided altogether when dealing with layout or functionality issues on a website. This is because including multiple PHP files can lead to conflicts in variable names, function names, or CSS/JS resources, causing unexpected behavior or errors. To prevent these issues, it's best to limit the use of includes to essential components only and ensure proper naming conventions are followed.

// Example of limited use of PHP includes
include 'header.php';
include 'content.php';
include 'footer.php';