Getting back to PHP programming. Need some recommendations.

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drabina
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Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:51 pm

Getting back to PHP programming. Need some recommendations.

Post by drabina »

Hi,

I am new here. Number of years ago I did some PHP programming using mostly Dreamweaver. Now I am (do not kick me out) full-time .NET programmer. I guess time had come to redesign my personal website. It is hosted on Linux box so I have PHP and MySQL available at my disposal. Unfortunately, I am out of the loop with PHP programming (haven't touched it in 6 or more years). I did run search on the internet for all the questions but the sites usually link to outdated tutorials and tools. So please feel free to answer my questions as it will help me get back to PHP programming.

1. As you can probably expect, I am looking for a Dreamweaver type IDE for PHP. I have downloaded Aptana Studio and DevPHP and will evaluate them, but I am open to other suggestions. What I would like to have in the IDE is the list of all files within site for easy management and upload to the server. I have Notepad++ and TextWrangler (I can do both platforms, Win and Mac) but I rather have more integrated development tool.

2. What's the latest tool to help web site programmers with keeping consistent look for all the pages and at the same time allow for easy modifications? Are templates the way to go? I have found a tutorial on creating template based web site that is really simple. I could use that unless you can recommend something that's very easy to use. I guess I am trying to stay away from installing modular tools on the server (like CMS). I would rather have all the control right there in the IDE (even if it requires more coding).

3. My web site is going to be very simple one. Few static pages, blog and image gallery (that supports multiple galleries). I was thinking of creating simple template based web site and use PHP to control the blog and galleries (sort of an admin tool). I know that there are CMS systems but I have tried CMSMS and it is just too much hassle to get it working for a simple site like that. Is my approach with templates a good one? I guess that depends on answer to question #2.

4. What's your approach to creating small personal web sites? I am a programmer so coding is not a problem for me. I guess what makes me ask all the questions is that I am currently working on enterprise-style systems that are modular, have number of programmers working on them so I am not really that familiar with smaller projects especially in PHP.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry if the questions were asked before but like I said, I did search but most of the topics were at least 3-4 years old and I am looking for most up to date information.

Thanks.
alex.barylski
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Re: Getting back to PHP programming. Need some recommendations.

Post by alex.barylski »

As you can probably expect, I am looking for a Dreamweaver type IDE for PHP. I have downloaded Aptana Studio and DevPHP and will evaluate them, but I am open to other suggestions. What I would like to have in the IDE is the list of all files within site for easy management and upload to the server. I have Notepad++ and TextWrangler (I can do both platforms, Win and Mac) but I rather have more integrated development tool
Eclipse is probably the closest you'll get. I use UltraEdit.
Are templates the way to go? I have found a tutorial on creating template based web site that is really simple. I could use that unless you can recommend something that's very easy to use. I guess I am trying to stay away from installing modular tools on the server (like CMS). I would rather have all the control right there in the IDE (even if it requires more coding).
Template engines like Smarty or bTemplate. I suggest googling the latter as it's the most efficient and easy to get started with.
My web site is going to be very simple one. Few static pages, blog and image gallery (that supports multiple galleries). I was thinking of creating simple template based web site and use PHP to control the blog and galleries (sort of an admin tool). I know that there are CMS systems but I have tried CMSMS and it is just too much hassle to get it working for a simple site like that. Is my approach with templates a good one? I guess that depends on answer to question #2.
Not sure what your asking but...CMS is the wrong way to go IMHO. I would install a separate WordPress installation for the blog, CMSMS or something similar for static content and use phpAlbum or Gallery for the photo administration. The addon modules for CMSMS, etc will always pale in comparison to applications which specialize in that area.
What's your approach to creating small personal web sites? I am a programmer so coding is not a problem for me. I guess what makes me ask all the questions is that I am currently working on enterprise-style systems that are modular, have number of programmers working on them so I am not really that familiar with smaller projects especially in PHP.
Depending on what I need I almost always use some template system. I developed a simple script to allow me to power my web sites using a simple bTemplate like template engine but allow novice users quick and easy editing via a WYSIWYG.

http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/texocms

It basically generates the page for you and then you just use the WYSIWYG to edit content. Because each page is actually an individual script, you can modify the hell out of it and make a fairly customized page -- almost impossible when you use CMS which deliver content from a database.

Cheers :)
drabina
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Re: Getting back to PHP programming. Need some recommendations.

Post by drabina »

Hockey wrote:Eclipse is probably the closest you'll get. I use UltraEdit.
I remember that once I tried to install Eclipse and was unable to get any of the modules working but I can give it a try again.
Not sure what your asking but...CMS is the wrong way to go IMHO. I would install a separate WordPress installation for the blog, CMSMS or something similar for static content and use phpAlbum or Gallery for the photo administration. The addon modules for CMSMS, etc will always pale in comparison to applications which specialize in that area.
I already have sort of a html template that I use for the site. It is pretty static with header, menu, two columns and no footer. I guess that would be easy to put the template tags on it and get it used across the site. The gallery pages I create on my own using SimpleViewer. Adobe Lightroom exports the page and all images so I will just have to embed that onto the template page. So I guess the only thing I need is the blog. And since I am going to program the site in PHP, I have figured that I can create simple administration page for the blog as I do not really need any special stuff like comments, etc. I would like to avoid combining multiple applications as I think will be almost impossible to get the look of the page to be consistent. So I am planning on re-doing some of the work other people already did :)
Depending on what I need I almost always use some template system. I developed a simple script to allow me to power my web sites using a simple bTemplate like template engine but allow novice users quick and easy editing via a WYSIWYG.
Will check that out.

Thanks a lot for your comments. I really appreciate them.
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seodevhead
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Re: Getting back to PHP programming. Need some recommendations.

Post by seodevhead »

I found Eclipse to be kinda klunky for my style. I really didn't like it. I spent about 8 hrs trying to learn it and get good with it, but after 8 hrs I just gave up and went back to dreamweaver. I think Dreamweaver is fantastic. I don't do a lot of OOP, so it doesn't have anything fancy for that, but dreamweaver has a TON of great features that most people don't know about (code snippets are AWESOME, smart auto-complete, etc). The single biggest thing I hated about Eclipse was how it handled the auto-complete for brackets. If you were doing a for/while/if/else or any conditional that used brackets, it would auto-complete the brackets, but place the cursor at the end of the closing bracket. So you would have to use the up-arrow key to put your cursor back into position to work within the brackets. They may have changed this since I used it, but I hated it. And if you turn off auto-complete... then you miss-out on all the other auto-completions that actually do help.

UltraEdit is nice too... but Dreamweaver gets my vote.
drabina
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Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:51 pm

Re: Getting back to PHP programming. Need some recommendations.

Post by drabina »

Few years back when I did PHP coding I was actually using the Dreamweaver and I have to agree with you that it was a good tool. Its functionality is basically what I am looking for in the replacement IDE (project file listing, ftp upload from application, etc). I have tried Aptana Studio but was unable to find FTP upload from the IDE. Now I am evaluating DevPHP and I like it. Haven't found all the stuff I need yet. Eclipse will be the last IDE that I am going to test and then I will have to pick one.

I also got the bTemplate up and running. It is indeed easy and quite fast. I guess with correct tool and bTemplate I can come up with some sort of integrated small web site/CMS tool that will have blog, gallery, contact me page and few static pages. I guess most work will be on the admin side but that shouldn't take that long. Pro of this solution will be total customization for my needs. Like I said in my original post, CMS was just too much for a simple site like that.

Thanks guys for your input.
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