What is PHP?

What is PHP?

Posted by admin on February 17, 2012 in Web Designer - Comments Off

There are many languages useful in the development of websites, but if you want to be a Web Designer PHP is one of the most essential. Before jumping headfirst into PHP, or ‘Hypertext Pre-processor’, though, it is first worth familiarising yourself with HTML as PHP is usually embedded within this markup language. Once you are up to speed with the basics, PHP can help you to add more complex functionality to your pages, turning your once simple HTML website into the beautiful site that you’ve always dreamed of.

PHP is a scripting language and the code is executed on the side of the server. That means if you look at a website featuring PHP the instructions within the code are implemented on the computer that hosts the website, not on your own computer. There are other scripting languages out there such as ASP and Perl, but as PHP is undeniably the most popular this is where you should start on your journey to becoming a Web Designer.

Why Bother with PHP?

HTML is a fantastic markup language for putting together some simple sites, but if you want to include anything more complicated within your website such as forums, picture galleries, surveys, secure logins and much, much more, you’ll need a scripting language. PHP is loaded with benefits such as the following:

  • It’s completely free! PHP is an open-source technology so you can download and use it with no cost to you, the web designer.
  • It’s compatible across a number of platforms, including Windows, Unix and Linux.
  • It supports the use of a range of databases, such as the popular MySQL and others including Oracle, Informix, Solid and many more.
  • It really is ideal for both the smallest and the largest website development projects, so no matter what you have in mind PHP will work for you.
  • You don’t need to spend a lifetime learning to master the basics of PHP; as scripting languages go it’s quite simple to pick up.

All of these benefits and more make PHP a great language for website developers.

The Basics of PHP Coding

PHP files are usually saved with the extension .php, and the files include a combination of sections of script code, HTML tags and text. The script code itself will be sandwiched between <?php and ?> tags. Displaying the text, ‘This is my first PHP website.’ on your screen is as simple as this:

<html>

<body>

<?php echo “This is my first PHP website.”

?>

</body>

</html>

If you enjoyed reading the above, you may like to read more articles like this in our Articles For Web Designers category.