8 replies to this topic

[Lord Katana]

Could somebody tell me what is the difference between a PhP web page and a HTML?
I'm just starting out to learn so I'm a newbie .
any advice would be much appreciated.
i really want to learn and understand the difference between PHP and HTML web sites so i could concentrate my efforts on learning one.


Best Regards,
LordKatana

Ps

In the past days i was looking for some tutorials and books that i could use. After several hours of search i have found this course :
Simple PHP
before i make an move could somebody give me a advice or something. I mean is this thing good or not?

PPS
Don't get mad if i wont respond in the following week. I will be in vacation. But will get back ASAP .

[Alexander]

HTML is static content, meaning you write it and upload it and you get what you see. PHP is a scripting language that runs on your web server, and can put out dynamic content, or handle logins, shopping carts, information etc.

If you're wanting to learn PHP, first learn HTML (because you'll be working with HTML in the end while using PHP) and the essentials, such as FTP and how to manage a website with your web host. There are many good free online PHP tutorials, but if you wish for a book I'd recommend something such as this:
PHP Essentials 2nd Edition

I wouldn't buy a book from the site you listed, as it's a "get rich quick" scheme-like book, I can't vouch for its quality of contents.

If you're looking for a nice online manual, php.net has one of their own, it should give you a great idea of PHP's functioning and inner workings, although it may be a bit advanced:
php.net - manual

[matrob]

Also, an important difference to note between a PHP and an HTML page is that an HTML page will not execute PHP code. You can save a file as .php and only have HTML content in it. However, a .html file will skip any PHP code.

Like NullW0rm said, there are many good online tutorials. The following is a good place to learn some basics:
PHP Tutorial

If you do not know HTML, you can also look at their HTML tutorial:
HTML Tutorial

[glambert]

The only thing I can add to the above posts is PRACTICE. If you read the tutorials and they don't make sense, then download WAMP/LAMP and play around with a virtual server and get some php examples from the tutorials working on your computer so you can actually see for yourself what the code does, then just have a play around and see what you can create with it.

Coding should be enjoyable, don't get stressed if it doesn't make sense straight away, keep going until you work it out, challenge yourself.

[jackolantern]

Don't buy that book! While I have never read it myself, anyone who would make a website like that (that reads like an infomercial) is likely going to just send you an email with a collection of outdated, free PHP tutorials for your $40. Google search "How to become a game tester", and you will see about a thousand other sites all written just like that, all charging crazy amounts of money for bad info. I could not find the ISBN for that book, and it is not listed on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, which makes me think even more it is just a collection of free tutorials.

For $5 less, get PHP and MySQL Web Development, 4th Edition. It comes pretty close to being everything you will need for PHP. It is pretty much the Mecca of PHP books.

[Lord Katana]

Thx very much for the help guys. I will start learning these codes ASAP.
Btw ( in this vacation, that I’m still in,) I started playing with a program called
"Web Creator" From what I’ve discovered so far it has it personal pre-base-web-design and fasts up the process of creating webs.
From what i can speculate, i think that this programs allows to enter your php.... etc

My question is:

Would it be good to work with it and study in parallel the codes of HTML and PHP ?.

My second question is:

FTP? Could someone care to explain a little better?
I've made use of a program (freeware) that dose that trick, or something like that.

My third question is:

What's a domain?? I don’t get it pretty much. A website URL?
And these back links? What are those? Are they good or bad?
If bad, how can be countered?

My last question, please have some patience as i'm a new to all.
What is a BLOG? Exactly? What is it's use ? It's not a site neither a forum so what is it??

Thx in Advance and hope to see from you guys soon


Yours Truly,
LK

PS,
Thx for the advice, i wont buy anything as of now. I will learn what i can get from tutorials and other sources.
Thx again

[matrob]

1. I would learn basic html first. It's pretty much required to use php.
HTML Tutorial - Read through the Basic and Advanced sections just for an understanding - should take less than an hour.

2. FTP - File Transfer Protocol. It's just the internet protocol for uploading and downloading files. Almost anyone (including me) will recommend Filezilla.
FileZilla - Client Download
FileZilla Tutorial - How to use FileZilla FTP client

3. Yes, it is the base of the url. For example, this page's url is http://forum.codecal...tml#post273122. The domain for this site, however, is codecall.net.
Not sure what you mean by back links... Can you explain?

4. "Blog" is an abbreviation for "web log". It's basically a place for a single person to publish personal stories, news stories, etc. People can generally leave comments, but it differs from a forum in that in a forum many people discuss a topic. In a blog, a single person writes an article on something (often regularly - daily, weekly, etc.) and readers are simply allowed to leave comments.

Example of a blog (notice the comments if you scroll down):
ongoing by Tim Bray · Tab In My Pocket

[Alexander]

Lord Katana said:

And these back links? What are those? Are they good or bad?
If bad, how can be countered?

Backlinks are when someone else links back to you, which is a generally good thing search engines look for (it sees your site more popular, plus if a high up site links to you technically page rank could increase but pagerank is deprecated (old) )

Backlinks from a spam site or something could be bad, although there aren't many situations that you would come to that.

[PETTE]

No the only book you should get is: PHP and MySQL Web Development (get latest Edition) It will be the last book you'll ever buy! and ever read on the subject!