There are a lot of ingredients in a recipe for web development. One question we often get here at SPARKS! is, what is PHP?
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor, technically) is a widely-used open-source scripting language that is used in web development. Like an engine powers a car, PHP is used to create dynamic web pages and server-side scripting.
Many sites are developed using WordPress, a popular content management system (CMS) written in PHP. It allows developers – like your friends here at SPARKS! – to create and manage websites and blogs without needing to write code from scratch.
In short, here’s how PHP works with WordPress:
Server-Side Processing: When a visitor visits a page from a website, the server executes PHP scripts to generate the requested content dynamically. This means fetching data from a database, processing it, and then rendering the HTML code that makes the page appear on the screen.
Themes : WordPress themes are primarily made up of PHP files. These PHP files contain template tags and functions that dynamically generate HTML content based on the site’s configuration and how a visitor interacts with a page.
Plugins: WordPress plugins are developed using PHP and add features or modify existing functionalities to a WordPress site. Back to the car analogy, plugins would add options like leather seats or a sunroof to a vehicle.
Database Interaction: WordPress uses MySQL as its database backend (more on that another day). PHP scripts within WordPress interact with the MySQL database to store and retrieve content such as posts, pages, comments, and user data.
Customization and Development: Developers can customize and extend WordPress by writing PHP code to create custom designs or modify an existing functionality.
Oh, there is one other slightly – well VERY – important part of all of this.
Like any other type of software, PHP versions are updated frequently to enhance performance and security. That is good. However, like an older computer, there are some plugins and themes that won’t run on newer versions of PHP. That is not so good. If it is a plugin, there may be an alternative that can be swapped. But if it is a theme it is more complex and an overall theme refresh is usually needed. That can have other benefits, including updated content and user journey improvements, as well.
So there you have it. In a nutshell, PHP serves as the backbone of web development platforms like WordPress. But, like anything else, it requires updating to do its job.
