PHP web hosting is convenient these days because most cheap hosting companies include PHP software along with MySQL databases in their all-in-one packages. If you aren’t familiar with it, PHP (Hypertext Processor) is an open source scripting language that was invented to create dynamic web pages faster than CGI and other server side scripting. The important aspect about a PHP web hosting provider is that they provide support for all files with the ‘.php’ extension at the end of their name. So, if you use PHP to build your website, you shouldn’t have any major problems with it.
As well, PHP can be embedded into HTML pages. Your host’s server will also recognize PHP code embedded in HTML pages by a start tag and and end tag. So, if you are using FrontPage, you can import PHP scripts into the pages created with FrontPage. This saves you from having to do duplicate work when it comes to creating new pages with existing templates. In fact, you can even create cookies so that frequent visitors don’t have to enter the same information over and over again. PHP works on any platform, including Linux, Windows, and UNIX, so you can use it with any PHP web hosting package that you buy. PHP is also a server side language, so the results that it creates don’t get added to the pages until a viewer’s browser request them. This prevents viewers from stealing your code after they download your pages.
PHP is easy to learn and a powerful scripting language. Perhaps its greatest asset is that besides working well with different operating systems, it also works well with data bases. This includes Microsoft Access, but more importantly, MySQL. With PHP and MySQL, you can create a database driven web site that will save you a lot of time when it comes to creating dynamic web pages. If you haven’t worked with PHP and MySQL together before, it will take some learning on your part, but this method is so popular, there are plenty of tutorials out there to help. PHP already has support for MySQL built in, and most cheap web hosting packages include both, so it shouldn’t be hard to get started. All of the details can’t be covered here, but you can get an idea of how much time PHP and MySQL will save you in the future.
PHP integrates easily with MySQL databases. The farthest many people who manage their own web site go with PHP is to use it as an easy way to collect and store data on clients. They use PHP to capture information from clients when they fill out personal information on an interactive web page, and then store it in a MySQL data base for later use. However, the combination of PHP and MySQL can create a data driven web site that will benefit you immensely.
One of the problems that home-grown websites have is getting fresh content. It is time consuming to write it yourself, and too expensive to hire content writers to do it on continuous basis. Even if you have the money, getting new content usually means hiring someone to write it and then a separate person to copy the word files into your HTML templates. However, a combination of MySQL and PHP can help you generate fresh looking content quickly and often. To get started, you will need a basic knowledge of HTML and JavaScript. After that, learning the basics of PHP and MySQL are fairly simple.
This will take a little time, but this is such a well-liked way of adding content to websites, there’s a ton of information out there. Once you understand the basics, you can simply input content into a MySQL database and then import it to a PHP template to easily build dynamic web pages. You can create new pages instantly from a database driven site design, instead of writing an HTML file for every page on your site. The reason why is that you only have to write a separate file for each type of information you want to present within your pages.
By developing a database driven site design, content writers can post new information directly on your site without even knowing HTML. This means that you can hire the occasional writer without getting any IT people (including yourself) involved. This makes PHP web hosting a clear choice if you want to have fresh looking content for viewers as well as search engines, and it will save you a lot of time if you are the sole proprietor of a web site.
