When learned to make JSP pages, I was taught to use a common menu page separate from all other pages and then import the menu page to each page using <jsp:directive.include file="menu.jspx" />.
Is there a similar way to do this in HTML5? Or is there a better way to include a common menu/masthead on every page using HTML5?
The standard way to do this is to use Server Side Includes. Most servers support this.
No, html5 doesn't do this.
What you were doing in JSP was a server-side include. What you are asking for is a client-side include, those don't exist in html5.
I you had a good reason for loading something client-side, you could use javascript. Look into AJAX. A lot of .js libraries have good support, to make it easier. jQuery for example has a load() function which takes some of the pain away.
I don't recommend using something like that for a navigation menu though. Server-side includes would be better.
If you're simply working on a small project, maybe you're doing it locally, and you just want to make it so you don't have to copy-paste chunks of the page everywhere, php is an easy way to do it.
Use something like XAMPP to run php on your machine in an easy-to-follow way. Then use php's include function, as demonstrated here: PHP Include to do what you want.
