As I understand the render function, the intent is to render everything at once to the browser - since, once one sends something to the browser, subsequent sends (e.g. a header or footer) will be ignored by the browser. I think this is the same reason a header section is used in an html file.

Therefore, one would have to gather all the pieces (so to speak) into a single file for rendering - in one shot. Note, the examples seem consistent on this point i.e. they gather everything up, then render() it, once.

In your case, I wonder if render would take an array argument ? ... which would, then, render the array all at once.

I'm new (and confused) by all this, too - especially the approach changes from one Zend Framework (sub)version to the next; so, don't take my words to the bank. <G>