You mentioned having many pages and updating could a problem. I almost alway make my sites using an older version of the php program found here.
http://www.matthewkendall.com/web/templates
Or
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/ke...22.php3?page=5
The advantage of this is you make one temple called your "common" file and all content pages load into this ONE page.
So, no matter what menu you end up using (Use CSS)... this plus you complete layout can be changed by modifing one file.
Just a thought.
I like it and use it all the time.
Drummin