PHP gives you the freedom to add advanced features to your website.

The aim of this tutorial is to give you an easy, yet thorough and accurate introduction to PHP. It starts from scratch but requires that you already have a good knowledge of HTML. If you are new to HTML, you should start with our HTML tutorial.

PHP can be used in many contexts – discussion forums, polls, shops, SMS gateways, mailing lists, etc. The only limitation with what you choose to do with PHP is your imagination. PHP is not hard to learn, but be aware that PHP is more sophisticated and demanding to learn than HTML. Therefore, patience in the process is a virtue.

This tutorial cannot show you everything. Therefore, some engagement and a will to experiment are required. If you need help along the way, we recommend that you use the forums for such support. This is where you meet the real experts who are willing and ready to offer tips, suggestions and advice.

What is needed?

It is assumed that you already have a text editor and know how it is used.. Next, you need access to a computer or a server that can run PHP. In contrast to HTML and CSS, PHP is not affected by which browser your visitors use, but by the type of server that’s hosting your pages. This is because PHP is a server-side technology.

In the next few lessons, you will learn all about how PHP works, and how to set up your computer to run PHP. After that, you’ll learn about specific functions and methods.

When you finish the next set of tutorials, you will be able to code PHP and thus have access to unlimited possibilities for adding interactivity to your webpages.