PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy [Paperback]

David Powers (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590597311 | ISBN-13: 978-1590597316 | Publication Date: November 9, 2006 | Edition: 1st ed. 2006. Corr. 3rd printing

The killer combination of PHP, MySQL database, and the Apache web server is by far the most popular set of dynamic web technologies in use on the web today.

So why another PHP book? Well, not everyone who uses PHP is a programmer. PHP is the most common dynamic web language used by designers, if their web sites require dynamic functionality, and there are hordes of novice users who want to set up dynamic web sites.

Code-heavy books are likely to be rather daunting to these non-programmers, so this book provides a more friendly, accessible, visual learning style. It takes the reader through the details of setting up their development environment and PHP code basics as painlessly as possible, and shows them how to wire together several real world PHP projects.

The code is compatible with the latest versions of PHP (6) and MySQL (5,) but it is written to be backwards compatible with any older versions that readers might have available on their hosting servers. Special emphasis is also put on security (very important for effective PHP sites, but often overlooked by beginners - we teach it right from the start), and good site design (our PHP generates semantically-sound markup, which is then attractively styled using CSS.)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Powers is a highly respected author of books about programming for the Web, specializing in PHP and ActionScript. He has written or contributed to six books and is currently working on his seventh. He is also passionate about web standards, and has worked as technical reviewer or editor of several popular titles about XHTML and CSS.

David began experimenting with web design in 1995 in his capacity as Editor, BBC Japanese TV, and he has developed several large-scale websites in Japanese. He spent nearly 30 years at the BBC in a variety of editorial roles, and was a BBC radio and TV correspondent in Tokyo from 1987 to 1992. He is fluent in Japanese, and has translated several plays from Japanese to English.

Previous books:

Foundation Dreamweaver MX 2004 (co-author)

PHP Web Development with Dreamweaver MX 2004 (co-author)

Foundation PHP 5 for Flash (author)

Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8 (author)

Blog Design Solutions (co-author)

Foundation ActionScript for Flash 8 (co-author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 488 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1st ed. 2006. Corr. 3rd printing edition (November 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590597311
• ISBN-13: 978-1590597316
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #308,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I specialize in writing about web design using Dreamweaver, PHP, and CSS. PHP is the most popular server-side language that brings life to websites by communicating with external data sources, such as databases, news feeds, and XML documents. Adobe has recognized my expertise in web development by appointing me an Adobe Community Professional (ACP) for Dreamweaver. You'll often find me giving help in the Dreamweaver forums and Dreamweaver Community Help. In 2010, I became one of the first to qualify as a PHP 5.3 Zend Certified Engineer.

Before turning my hand to writing about web design, I spent nearly 30 years as a BBC radio and TV journalist, working both in front of the microphone/camera and behind the scenes. That gave me a wealth of experience in explaining sometimes difficult concepts in straightforward, easy to understand language - experience which shows through in my books.

I spent a large part of my broadcasting career in Japan, first on loan from the BBC to NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, and later as BBC correspondent. I have traveled all over Japan, and love taking photos, many of which end up being used in my books. Over the years, I have worked closely with the Shiki Theatrical Company, Japan's leading producer of musicals; and have translated several of their plays into English.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly What I've Been Looking For, December 8, 2006

By 

Carolyn S. Wood - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy (Paperback)

This book is exactly what I've been looking for, for a long time. I have been creating web sites for years, but haven't had much PHP experience. Some, but not much. Each time I looked for a "solution" online, I came across sloppy articles, conflicting information, difficult to understand code--just generally unsatisfactory, frustrating info for anyone who didn't already know PHP really well. Or, the info might be good, but it would take forever to find it. Not any more. I bought this book a few weeks ago, and started using things in it the other day. I have not read the entire book, but I've already incorporated some of the things into some sites I'm working on, and it was a breeze. The book is really well-written. If you have experience in web design but aren't a programmer, you will really benefit from this book. You'll painlessly add a number of really useful tools to your repertoire and be able to offer your clients more the same day you receive the book in the mail. I highly recommend it.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly "easy" but easier than anything else I've tried so far., June 15, 2007

By 

VMilo (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy (Paperback)

I was probably about two books shy of giving up on ever learning anything useful about PHP so I'm thrilled to have discovered this book when I did!

I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination but I know HTML, a fair amount of CSS, and I have a cursory understanding of how programming works. I've also successfully (but not often painlessly) installed and customized several ready-made PHP scripts so I've long been aware of how much more PHP could help me accomplish if I only had a better understanding of it.

I purchased several books on the subject over the years but could never get much past the first few chapters with any of them -- usually not even that much. Among my biggest problems was that it seemed I wasn't getting enough doses of practical information to stay motivated. This also made it difficult to be aware of any progress I might be making -- or if I even was. Sometimes the information didn't build up logically enough for me so it was harder to retain anything I might have learned. Often, even when a book claimed to be for beginners, in some areas it used jargon or presumed I knew things I didn't know at all while becoming excruciatingly basic in other areas. It was a constant struggle with little or no reward.

But none of this was the case with PHP SOLUTIONS.

I've been methodically reading just a few pages (rarely more) every night so as not to overload my circuits which were already weakened from so much frustration. The information is authoritative but the writing style is approachable, both of which made it so much easier for me to persevere. I also didn't allow myself to get too bogged down or frustrated: if there was something I wasn't getting, even after a few passes, I moved on with the hopes it would make more sense later, and it usually did. But I feel as though I'm at least grasping the majority of what's been presented. Although I have not been following along and performing the exercises as recommended (just reading and studying), I still sense definite progress and comprehension that I never felt with any of the other books. Once I decide on something I want to incorporate into a web site, I will revisit those chapters more thoroughly. This probably wouldn't work for most people, but it usually works best for me.

At any rate, I'm nearly half way through the book now and still eager to continue. That's enough to convince me. I can't say I expect to ever be able to write my own scripts from scratch (unless they're very simple), but if I'm at least able to find my way around many existing scripts (surely the ones covered in this book) and customize them for my own needs, it will be HUGE. And I CAN say I feel confident I'll be able to achieve at least that much, which I know will serve my needs and is much more than I expected after all the false starts and frustrations I've been through and how close I came to quitting.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best, February 15, 2007

By 

Nathan Smith (SonSpring.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy (Paperback)

I recently read PHP Solutions by David Powers, and have to say it has been one of the better ones I've come across in awhile - definitely one I will keep at arm's length. I think the best way to describe it is to use an analogy. What CSS Mastery is for CSS, PHP Solutions is for PHP. This book is full of practical PHP tips and tricks that can help you hit the ground running. It takes a learn-by-doing approach.

While this isn't a comprehensive how-to guide covering OOP, it does approach things with a future-proofing mindset. Powers is careful to point out where things are specific to PHP 5, and gives alternatives to making them work in version 4. He also talks about what features will be prevalent in PHP 6, such as PDO (PHP Data Objects) becoming the more standardized way to handle database connectivity.

The first few chapters start off with the basics, showing PHP syntax and explaining how to build dynamic templates using includes. He also shows how to protect includes from being accessed independently of their accompanying pages, storing them separately from publicly accessible directories. He also shows how to build a file-upload interface for use in a basic CMS.

He then goes on to build a photo blog, complete with auto-generated thumbnails. One cool solution he uses is checking the width of an image, and then using that numerical value to set the width of a paragraph which contains explanatory text. By constraining the width, it keeps the line of text from being longer than the image is wide. He also shows how to use PHP's date output to keep the copyright for your site on-par with the current year.

The latter part of the book gets into more advanced topics such as user management, remember sessions with cookies, and handling database security. By the time you complete this book, you will have the know-how to create a light-weight content management system that will uniquely fit your needs.

I really like that PHP Solutions takes you through the process of creating a dynamic site from start to finish, unlike many books which contain a slew of disparate examples. I would unreservedly recommend it to anyone looking to get into PHP. For another opinion, read the book review by Jonathan Snook [...]freelance web developer and member of the CakePHP [...] documentation team.