Help, I am a novice! PHP, HTML & Dreamweaver

Thank you for taking time to read this.

I have a small website that was built for me using PHP script. I dont intend on becoming a web designer, I just want to manage my site putting up a slide show and some simple pages etc. It seems like I am getting in to something over my head with configuring Windows for PHP.

The site only has a few functions that requires PHP, the rest is no diferent from HTML.

- I would like to know if the is a simple way of editing PHP script using DW

- Is the a way of having the site run partly using PHP and part HTML?

- What do I have to do to change from PHP to HTML?

As I am sure you are aware I am no programmer and hope my questions are intelligable.

Cheers and Happy Saturday night.

 

well first of all what is the site doing that it needs php anyways... php has to output to something the clients browser can understand so thats where html comes in. you can have php and html in a page but the server is going to parse the php and output the givin html for what its doing. if you want to get the just of it all go to w3schools.com they have a good beginner guide to most things... you might not be able to code it but atleast you will understand what its doing... and it doesn't take 2 years to read the whole section more like 2 days.

 

I think PHP is enableling a main page and an application form to have a corresponding time table, in sink with each other.

As I would like to edit PHP pages using DW but can't, is it not possible to have some of my pages altogether free of PHP? while continuing as before with those that rely on PHP?

Will check the link!

 

is dw dreamweaver? if so there are some inserts you can do but it wont walk you threw anything or make you understand what they mean.
and yes you can have page php free as long as it not complex it would be best if you could show code or an example of what the page is doing.

 

Yes Dreamweaver.
Here is the web add

www. capoeiracanal .co.uk

 

yes, php works fine in Dreamweaver --if you have a server or something to parse the php-- and DW even has some syntax highlighting but there's no getting around the fact DW will not teach one/lead one through using PHP. also, even if you have dreamweaver, you still need something to parse the php-- you could download and install XAMPP which would give you Apache and PHP .

 

I would like use php in Dreamweaver!! but does Apache and MySQL take a lot of time and knowledge to set up? I have down loaded both programmes but am still not able to get php working.

 

You should start learning php from php.net and rest of the stuff you can pick up from w3schools.com

 

Well I don't plan on becoming a web designer, I just want to manage a small site.
If I can find out about setting up Apache and MYSQL on W3school.com I will have a look.

 

Being Brief

HTML is more on the design rather then the Coding
PHP However is a way to query the database

So really if the file was PHP, the design part would still be HTML, php are only the bits which start with <? and end with ?>

 

Well, why won't you use a normal text-editor (since PHP code is a plain text) for editing PHP files?? Like for instance Metapad or EditPad Lite or even Windows in-built Notepad for that matter ...


tayiper

 

You know that I was actually asking about something similar (in particular about just changing the extension of "index.html" file to "index.php" without modifying it would work or not, of course, on a PHP enabled server, i.e. server that supports PHP); see the I need something basic explained about PHP thread that I opened here on DP forums recently ...


Os as I wrote in my last post:

tayiper

 

I recommend that you start at http://www.w3schools.com/. They will give you a basic overview of both HTML and php. If you do not know the purpose of both, and how they relate to each other, you can't possibly maintain the site you mentioned.

You should study first:
HTML: The basic markup language of a website used to display information. Once you understand the basics of how HTML works, then look at:
PHP: Server side scripting, used to generate HTML dynamically from other sources such as a MySQL database, a collection of other php scripts, user input, etc.

I would also recommend that you gain a basic overview of:
CSS: Language used to format the info displayed by HTML (that could have been generated from your php!)

Apache and MySQL are most likely running on your website's host, so there is no need to install them locally. (overviews and tuts are on w3schools.com).

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks to all have replied to my questions!!

I have resolved my problem, The files read .php, but in fact my site is basically written in HTML and the PHP is very minimal, so I will use em editor to do this.

The idea of setting up PHP locally is too much for me!!

Good energy>

 

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