Over the past year, I've read 6 - 8 PHP and e-commerce books and, starting fresh (from scratch), I'd like to learn "the right way" (whatever that might be). So, with the advent of object-oriented PHP 5 and growing XML acceptance, I thought it might be useful to start a current thread - to clarify and define current thinking on the following questions.
- 1. Are frames, tables and cascading style sheets (CSS) considered old techniques, which should be replaced by XML, XSL and XSLT, using PHP and/or XSLT (or whatever) to generate the final HTML?
2. Should XML, usually, only be used when a local data source (e.g. from an RDBMS) is unavailable ... or when there's a need to integrate data from multiple, incompatible data sources (usually NOT local)?
3. For dynamic (data-driven) output, should one bring data from a local RDBMS to a .XML file (for a .XML data source file)? Then, use a separate .XSL file to consolidate (page or module) styling? And, then, of course, maintain all processing code in, yet, a third .PHP file?
4. What is the currently proper way to render final (HTML) results? ... pass what to what? ... what Requires/Includes what?