PHP helps you do magical things with Web sites. Long ago, way back in the 1994 dark ages of the Internet, a very good thing happened. A genius named Rasmus Lerdorf wanted a way to track how many visitors came to his online resume. So to count the number of his online resume visitors, Lerdorf created PHP. At that time, PHP stood for "Personal Home Page."

Today counting Web site visitors is something we take for granted, as there are many tools and gizmos available for this common analytic. However, back in 1994 when dirt was still new, what Rasmus Lerdorf did with his PHP visitor counter was BIG MEDICINE. Lerdorf’s PHP would go on to become a very, very powerful and popular Web site development language. PHP is a rich language for dynamic web site development, it has many commands and functions that can perform many web site operations.

PHP is now known as "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor." So what does that mouthful mean? The official PHP Web site (www.php.net) defines PHP; "PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML."

PHP is a server-side scripting language designed for use on the Web. This means you can put (or imbed) PHP code into a HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language, it’s the code that makes up web pages) web page. Each time the web page is displayed, the PHP code will run at the web page’s host (PHP runs at the web page’s server) and generate output to the web page that is shown on the viewer’s (or client’s) browser. Often the generated output shown on a web page by PHP code comes from a database. PHP is very good at interacting with MySQL databases and PHP is often used with the MySQL database management system.

A Web site developer using PHP will include PHP script/code within the XHTML/HTML code of a web page. The PHP script/code can do many things that make a Web site dynamic, rather than static. A dynamic web site can change its content, it can change what information is shown to a visitor.

An example of a dynamic Web site is one where visitors can view, search, and add information to the online database, and then display that information by calling it up from the database during a search operation. You happen to be viewing a dynamic Web site right now.

This blog is powered by WordPress, and WordPress uses PHP and an MySQL database to display the content shown here. A blog is often updated and changed by adding new posts … which means new data is added to the database powering the blog. Each new post to a blog changes what information is shown to a visitor.

Dynamic Web sites are easier to maintain, upgrade, and build on than static Web sites. Updating a dynamic PHP and MySQL developed site is as easy as entering new contents to a database, no web pages need to be laboriously re-coded by hand. In contrast, a static Web site requires a Web site developer to hand-code each and every web page that has content changes.

Take An Online PHP and MySQL Course
Introduction to PHP and MySQL

WordPress is an excellent choice for your blogging or Web site platform. There are many reasons why WordPress is so great, here are a few:

• WordPress can do just about anything you want to use it for. It can be a blog only, it can be a Web site only, it can be a Web site with a blog, it can cut your grass … okay, okay, WordPress can’t cut your grass. You can use WordPress to blog about everything your cat does, or you can use WordPress to blog about your doctoral study of lions, tigers, and bears and how to save them. You can use WordPress to create a Web site or blog, or both, about your small business and have customers order your goods and services online. Or, you can use WordPress as a site for your huge corporation. Your imagination will lead you to what you want WordPress to do for you.

• WordPress is free. It won’t cost you a penny to use the WordPress blogging platform. There are no license fees to use WordPress. Owning your own blog is something I highly recommend. If you want to Own Your Own Blog, you will have to pay a fee to a web hosting service, and a fee to register a domain name. These costs are not great, and for the control you gain over your site, they are worth it. Web hosting costs vary considerably, but there are many fine web hosts that charge a very affordable fee. Domain name registration should cost you very little.

• From humble beginnings in 2003, WordPress has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging platform in the world. WordPress is used by millions of Web sites/blogs and these sites are viewed by tens of millions of people each and every day. WordPress is not small potatoes, WordPress is the Big Kahuna. WordPress is a mature and stable product.

• Documentation and support of WordPress abounds. The WordPress Web site (wordpress.org), is jam-packed with information. You can’t search the Internet without finding tons and tons of places that have information on WordPress. You’re looking at one of those sites right now. You can’t sling a dead cat on the Internet without it landing on a WordPress Web site of some kind. Information about WordPress is readily available.

• WordPress is constantly being worked on and improved. It’s already very good, but it keeps getting better. There are people from all over the world working on WordPress to improve it because it is an Open Source project. They are busy right now coming up with the next WordPress release. They always are.

• When a WordPress update comes out, with the current version of WordPress it is as simple as clicking a button to get a WordPress blog caught up to the new update.

• WordPress follows XHTML and CSS (this is code stuff that helps make the blog work) standards put forth by the W3C. This means your WordPress site will display properly when viewed in standards-compliant browsers. This is a good thing.

• Compared to other blogging platforms, installing WordPress is user-friendly. It can be technically challenging to install any blog if you are a newbie or a decided non-geek, and sometimes even for experienced geeks too, but WordPress installation can be considered to be less threatening and challenging than some other blog installations. You can find people who will provide a service of installing and setting up a new WordPress blog for you. These services will get your blog installed with a theme (more about themes below) of your choosing and install and setup a selection of plugins (more about plugins below) to get your new WordPress site ready for the big-time world of blogging. HINT: I provide a WordPress blog installation and setup service for a modest fee. This will protect you from the geeky technical code stuff, and get you ready for what you really want to do – which is blog! Please contact me using my Contact Form if you would like to know more.

• In order for a web host to be able to run WordPress, there are two requirements of the web host that must be met: PHP version 4.3 or greater, and MySQL version 4.0 or greater. PHP and MySQL are the backbone code of WordPress, they are what make WordPress work. Most web hosts meet these PHP and MySQL requirement easily, and probably exceed them.

• You can easily change the way your WordPress blog looks simply by installing and choosing a new theme. WordPress uses themes for the way its blogs look and feel. Themes are all about the presentation of your WordPress site. There are more free themes available on the Internet that you can use for your blog than Carter has oats. If you want, you can also buy a premium theme developed by a WordPress theme design expert. Choosing your theme for your WordPress blog is a personal choice. You have many places to look for your theme, and many, many themes to choose from. WordPress installs with some basic default themes, so you’re all set from the get-go. If you want, you can also design your own theme, or have someone tweak a theme so that it’s just right for you.

• WordPress is very flexible and customizable. WordPress plugins are gizmos you can add to your WordPress site to give it more functionality. There are tons of plugins available. Whatever job or chore you need your WordPress site to do, chances are someone has developed a plugin to do just that. There are many things you can do yourself without knowing how to code in XHTML, CSS, or PHP and MySQL (the code that makes WordPress work – WordPress is based on PHP and MySQL), depending on the theme and plugins you choose. If you are capable in these Web site development languages, then you can tweak your WordPress site to your heart’s desire. If these languages are nothing but gobbledegook to you, and you just can’t find a plugin to do what you need done, then there are WordPress coders you can hire to make the changes you want.

• WordPress provides strong aggregator support. Many standard RSS configurations are included. This means your blog readers will have choices when they choose to subscribe to your blog. Another good thing.

• WordPress will let you communicate your passion, your expertise, your knowledge, skills, and abilities, your business, to the entire world. You can do this from your top-floor corporate office, or from the spare closet in the extra bedroom of your sister’s apartment. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection, WordPress installed at a web host’s server, a domain name, and your imagination, smarts, and effort. You could change the world, or your life … for the better. It can all begin with a WordPress blog.

This Is Important
When you host a WordPress blog on your chosen web host’s server, you have total control. When you Own Your Own Blog, you are the Czar of your blog. Its future is always in your hands. Your work will not be jeopardized by the policies enacted by a third-party that hosts your blog for free.

When you install a WordPress blog at a web host of your choosing, and use a domain name for that blog you have chosen and registered, then you are going first-class with your blogging efforts.

I think WordPress is wonderful. I think you will too.

What are you waiting for?