Actually, PHP is not necessarily used for web design per se, but it comes in handy when creating dynamic websites. If you have been online searching for the role and the future of PHP, you may have come across various articles and discussion boards that go on and on about how PHP is dying and that it will soon be history due to new web technologies. However, this very article is here today to let you know that you shouldn’t pay attention to such articles because PHP is not going anywhere anytime soon. Let’s look at the facts instead of speculations, hearsay, and perceptions from oracle wannabes.
The facts state that PHP runs around 80% of the web, and PHP 7, the latest version of the web technology, is one of the fastest if not the fastest web technology today. Furthermore, most of the dominant web-based companies either were established using PHP or have PHP as their core; for example, Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Wikipedia, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube or WordPress. In fact, WordPress powers around 30% of websites on the internet and it is written mainly in PHP.
Most people say that PHP is easy to learn; therefore, it is not a reliable web development language. Just because something is easy to learn does not mean it is not reliable. Seriously, consider the facts; 80% of the internet is under PHP. I think the correct term is ‘user-friendly’. PHP is user-friendly, in that it makes it easy for an aspiring web developer to learn the language and start doing wonders with it. Yes, the language is simple to learn but it is robust. There is a reason the major internet based companies are using it to run their daily business.
I started by suggesting that PHP is not necessarily used as a web design technology because web design is more of a front-end thing while PHP is a server-side thing. As in, its magic happens on the server and the output is sent to the browser in terms of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. Nonetheless, PHP helps to make websites more dynamic and interactive just like web design by Parxavenue Ltd. A good example is using web forms.
The forms that people fill on the web are designed using web design technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But PHP is what makes them function. As in, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript will work on the look or appearance of the form but for the form to actually take your details, process them, and give you feedback like sending you an email; that is the work of PHP.
Furthermore, PHP helps in creating applications that make your website more capable and interesting. For instance, when you are dealing with a lot of data from users; things like a lot of photos, getting their details, or even a shopping cart, or an e-commerce system. PHP is what makes all these things possible and easier to deal with.
I don’t know whether you have ever dealt with what it takes to update or shift a working system from one framework to another, regardless; it is a very demanding task. It involves determining whether the current framework is working, needs adjustments, or should be replaced all the same. PHP has been around for over 2 decades and the enterprises that use it have not changed their minds about it. What does that tell you? It is a reliable web technology and its future is bright.
PHP is a powerful, reliable, and user-friendly language. It feels kind of funny calling a programming language ‘user-friendly’ because is not common for developers to use that term on programming languages since they develop programs for users. Nevertheless, to some degree, even developers are users. PHP gives websites capabilities that HTML, CSS, and JavaScript alone cannot. Its ability to interact with virtually any database is one of its strong suits and the web development technology is constantly updated.
In web design, if it is just the appearance of the website, things can be easily accomplished using perhaps HTML and CSS only. You may not even need JavaScript since CSS is very capable nowadays. However, the more you need from your website when it comes to functionality, features, interactivity, and dynamicity, PHP becomes invaluable.
