php website development
Did your web developer mention that they are going to use ‘php’ to develop your website? And you do not know what it is and what it really matters to you? You have come to right place. here i will explain what is php website development in pOint form. Remember this article is focused on the end user or the owner (person whom the website is developed for) and not the developer.
What is PHP in the first place?
- Php is a software development language (one of many) used by programmers around the world to develop web pages/sites (other commonly used languages will include HTML, ColdFusion, Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP))
- PHP was initially abbreviated for “Personal Home Page” but at later versions of the development of this language it was announced that it should be “PHP Hypertext Preprocessor” which is rather a recursive acronym.
- PHP pages are interpreted and decoded at the server-end and end user will see only an HTML page without any complex page structures which enables the pages to be viewed by any browser that supports html (i cant think on any which doesn’t) and mobile phone browsers too without having to install any additional modules.
Specialty of PHP compared to other Web development languages.
- php is an “Open Source” Language which means it does not involve any paid programs to develop the site or to run it on the server (your Hosting Company).
- the processing of any code (eg: calculations) are done on the server side (the hosting co.) and not on the site visitor’s computer.
- php goes hand in hand with a database structure called MySql which serves all the database needs of the website (but will also support other relational database structures)
- php has become the most popular server-side web page development language in recent past (eg site developed with php are: Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, MyYearbook, Digg, Joomla, WordPress, YouTube, Drupal, Tagged, Moodle and many more
PROs and CONs of PHP
As i said earlier these Pros and Cons are for focused on the end user and not developer
Pros
- Since the language is free there are many ready-made (already developed) modules and sites that serves you purpose and could be customized for your need. (eg: for you online shopping store: Oscommerce, for you Content managed site (CMS): Joomla, your online blog: Wordpress, etc.
- Due to the above mentioned advantage the cost could be cut drastically and also you may receive a discounted quotation from your developer if they are using a ready made structure.
- Also due to the fist advantage i mentioned the development time is shorter.
- PHP adopts many commonly used programming structures and almost all the web developers will be conversant with PHP and changing your website developer is not so difficult.
- PHP platforms are available for most common platforms that are used at your Hosting company. Therefore you might have no need to change your existing service provider in case you decide to develop some pages in php for an existing site ( for your information php is supported in Linux, Microsoft Windows and RISC OS)
- Though the complex algorithms/calculations are done in PHP the end result your site visitor or search engines see a pure html and no coding. This is definitely a PLUS point when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization) or Page Ranking.
Cons
- Converting from an existing site structure to PHP might include serious changes such as database conversions.
- Since the website’s program code is executed at the server side there might be limitations and the developer might need other languages to support all the functionality such as JavaScript.
- Since the website is processed at the server before being sent to your website visitor’s screen there is a slight delay than plain html pages if you have complex calculations and algorithms that the page will display. (Nowadays servers are quite capable of handling heavy loads of processing, therefore this disadvantage should be considered as a minor)