Nearly every web host on line offers PHP hosting. PHP
is a common server side scripting language. The acronym
PHP is a recursive acronym that stands for hypertext
pre-processor. And, as the name hyper text
pre-processor implies, PHP is used to process hyper text
markup language (HTML) before it is presented to the
viewer in its final state. As such, PHP can be used to
generate dynamic content on a website; which is
essential to any solid website, especially with the
advent of Web 2.0.
PHP is not proprietary, that is, free to use by all.
Because of this, many web hosts employ a PHP server as
standard issue for any hosting package. To cut costs,
web hosts will often use the open source apache server
software as well. Apache, PHP, MySQL work well together
as the on line community of programmers contribute to
projects such as phpMyAdmin. To give you an idea of how
important PHP is to the web, it is unlikely that the
world of web development could be as egalitarian as it
is today; were it not for PHP. With this perspective,
you can bet nearly any web host on line will also offer
PHP hosting.
The version of PHP is the only difference between PHP
web hosts. Many web hosts will not offer the latest
version of PHP standard with the purchase of a server.
Although you often get a slightly outdated version of
PHP, nearly all web hosts will upgrade your server to
have the latest version of PHP upon your request. It is
wise to investigate if upgrading or downgrading (in the
event you have old scripts no longer compatible with the
latest version of PHP) will cost you anything. Some web
hosts keep this somewhat hidden, and use it as another
way to get a few bucks from you. But do not worry too
much, typically this is not the case and you will be
able to modify your server's PHP configuration without
any extra cost. Aside from a setup fee or a fee to
change the default version of PHP your server comes
standard with, PHP hosting should be totally free. If
your web host charges you extra for using PHP, you may
want to consider moving your content to a web host that
does not charge you for PHP.
If you are serious PHP programmer, you may need to
investigate if you can modify the code library's that
already exist on your a present or potential server.
One library you may need is the GD library's, standing
for "graphic design" library. The GD library is
essential for great free-ware programs like phpThumb to
be successfully installed and used for your website. I
take advantage of the power of phpThumb regularly in my
job as a freelance web developer. Without phpThumb,
many of the pages I design would need resized images and
hours of Photoshop work to load as smoothly as they do.
The GD library often comes standard with every
installation of PHP, but you may need to implement a
library with code to simplify the process of creating
content in portable document format (pdf), or carry out
some other complex task.
Before you invest your money in a web host offering PHP
hosting, you should check to see if various PHP
free-ware applications such as phpBB are included in the
PHP hosting package. These free PHP applications can
save you a great deal of time and effort, and are
standard issue with the majority of web hosts offering
PHP hosting. Investigating the presence or absence of
these critical PHP driven applications is essential to
determining the quality of the PHP hosting offered by
the various web hosts on line. However, if your website
will not require any bulletin board or blog software,
analyzing a PHP hosting package for these extras is
extraneous and unnecessary. It is good idea to shop
around with some forethought, as your website may grow,
or you may want to utilize a PHP based software to
enhance your website in the future.
