I just rewrote my index.shtml page as index.php and based it upon the index page of these boards. Strip out most of the data base calls (forum names etc.) and you get to retain the login logout functionality as well as whatever info you need (categories, logged in, etc).

Do it right, and it parses jsut as fast, if not better than my old index.shtml file which has a bunch of includes.

Btw, the cgi based poll on my old hp works fine in my php based one.