Getting the best out of PHP

PHP, the most popular server-side language for web development, is easy to learn, but there are lots of pitfalls for the unwary. To help ease the process, David Powers has written a series of books about using PHP in conjunction with Dreamweaver and Flash.

This site describes the books and has updates to information that has changed since they were published.

Finding the Windows installer for Apache

Some people are having difficulty locating the Windows installer for Apache. Details here...

Enabling PHP on Mac OS X Leopard

Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) comes with Apache 2.2.6 and PHP 5.2.4 preinstalled, but neither is enabled by default. Normally, I recommend using the Mac PHP package created by Marc Liyanage, but a Leopard-compatible version was not immediately available. I have created detailed instructions on how to get the preinstalled version of PHP up and running on Leopard in the Tutorials section.

Spry 1.6 updater available for Dreamweaver CS3

Adobe has finally released an extension that updates the version of Spry in Dreamweaver from 1.4 to 1.6. More details in my blog. Or if you can't wait, go straight to Adobe Labs to get it.

The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3—now available

My new book about the latest version of Dreamweaver—The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3 with CSS, Ajax, and PHP—has begun shipping from Amazon in the United States, and from Computer Manuals in the UK. It should soon be available in bricks and mortar stores. It's a major rewrite of Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8, and provides in-depth coverage of the CSS and dynamic features of Dreamweaver CS3. More details...

Adobe Creative Suite 3—now available

Adobe has released Creative Suite 3, which includes the first updates to Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks since the acquisition of Macromedia in late 2005. Dreamweaver CS3 remains true to its origins, but its CSS rendering engine has been totally overhauled, and there's built-in support for Adobe's Ajax framework, Spry. Flash and Fireworks have also remained true to their roots, but benefit from greater integration with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. There's a lot of hype surrounding the release, but a lot of it is justified.

PHP Solutions—"favourite book of 2006"

Carolyn Wood, Editor of Digital Web Magazine, chose my latest book, PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy, as her favourite book of 2006. It's aimed at the beginner to intermediate level and places high emphasis on secure coding practices. More details...

Windows installer for PHP greatly improved

Since PHP 5.2.0, the Windows installer includes all the main PHP extensions and works with a wide range of web servers. See the Tutorials section for full installation instructions.