I have never created a website before but have read tutorials on HTML I want to learn how to create a powerful website preferably on my own computer before publishing it to the web. I have been reading tutorials about PHP, but every tutorial I have seen starts off discussing syntax, variables, functions etc. but seems to skip how to turn this into a web page. I downloaded a PHP program which looks like a black console program window with no menus or anything. Am I suppose to write code on this? Is this some kind of compiler? Is PHP, Apache and MySQL all I need to create a website on my computer? Must I also write HTML code? Thanks for any advice.
You can write the scripts using nothing more complicated than Windows Notepad. For a newbie I wouldn't try to run it on my home computer. Buy a domain and sign up for some basic webhosting and play with your scripts there. PHP is a scripting language capable of putting up a quick "hello world" right through to incredibly complex object oriented programming. The scripts don't get compiled and they output HTML - if that's what you ask it to do.
After I buy a domain and sign up for web hosting do I write my script in note pad and email it to the web hosting business and they install it on my domain which creates my web page? I do not want to bother you with an endless series of what next questions. How do you suggest I learn this part of starting a web? Do you know a web hosting site that can help me get started so I can begin learning the language? Thanks.
Bother us - it's what we love doing. Go to www.smartftp.com and download their ftp program. There are plenty of others but for now lets look at that one. Using the instructions from your new webhost link through to your new website. Now you can move files from your computer to your webhost using a very simple windows like system. You'll be doing it alot as you test and play. search these forums for "free php editor", I use an expensive one, but the editors with an "IDE" highlight errors and make coding quicker which is essential check out the scripts at www.sourceforge.net, www.opensourcecms.com and www.phpclasses.org for the building blocks to your new site. Developers rarely start from scratch but use a Content Management System (CMS) or framework (cakePHP) or templating system (smarty) to get started. You just need to learn and play so it's scripts you need to use right now. A proper site comes later. bookmark www.php.net - it's the online manual and you won't be able to live without it.
Thanks for the advice. I have no more questions for tonight. It is going to take me some time to investigate these sites and down load software. Thanks for pointing me to the path.
Hello, If you use Mozilla Firefox, you an use an extension called FireFTP ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684 ). It makes file transfers much easier. I recommend that you pick up some books on PHP. Most of them talk about making some kind of website. If you are cheap (like me), you can get a free hosting account for no cost to try out your php stuff. http://www.quotaless.com/index.jsp. As for PHP, it is a server-side language. Suppose, you make a PHP script, say hello.php and upload it to your PHP-enabled hosting account. When you access the PHP file through your browser ( say, http://www.yourdomain.com/hello.php ), the server recieves the request from the browser, loads the PHP file, then passes it to the PHP intrepreter. This intrepreter then parses the script and sends back ONLY the output to your browser. So there is NO way for someone to view the source code of a PHP script directly from your website. So if you make your PHP script output HTML text, it will appear in the browser as HTML. Also you may want to check out XAMPP. http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html It is a suite of programs which contains a webserver, PHP, and a database, so that you can try out the scripts on your PC itself without a hosting account. Also, I recommend that you try out CodeIgnitor. Its a web development framework, that is supposed to make your programming much easier. Just to 'ignite' you, they have a video tutorial, in which they make a simple blog script in like, 20 minutes or so. http://codeigniter.com/tutorials/ There are also other similar frameworks like CakePHP. CodeIgnitor is just my personal preference. And you can find a WIDE range of tutorials on the different things you can do with PHP here. PHP Freaks has many tutorials ranging from creating a simple hit counter to a full fledged interactive site and a forum. http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorials.php http://www.codewalkers.com/ Hope that was helpful. Thomas
I do use Firefox. I will investigate all the links you sent me. It looks like I will be busy for a couple of days reading and learning. Thanks for the help.
You'll need a few things since your a beginner: 1) HTML Editor 2) FTP Client -- use this to connect to your domain once you purchase your hosting (I recommend FileZilla, FlashFXP or CuteFTP) 3) Amazon.com -- the best way to learn is by reading 4) Bluehost.com -- cheap, good web hosting 5) www.w3school.org -- GREAT site for learning HTML/PHP Basics 6) PHP.net -- will become your new best friend
That would be http://www.w3schools.com/ . . And for a PHP editor, or better yet editor for any programming source, my personal choice is Notepad ++ . http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/ ~ Thomas
I've started to use TextWrangler for editing code, it has a built-in FTP interface that's very fast and intuitive, it lets you save via FTP directly to the directory. It's kind of an advanced scripting tool, but I find it saves a lot of time by combing text-editing features and FTP. It also can replace certain function of secure shell. But god...don't try to code your site from scratch if you aren't a programmer! Get a good free template and modify it.
I started learning PHP via www.w3schools.com. It's pretty comprehensive for a beginners tutorial site. The php program that you installed, should be the apache server (I assume). Once you run that program, you should see something when you go to type localhost on your browser. Let me know if that's correct, and I'll elaborate further.