Very, very newby question

NotVeryTechie

Hi all

I have been given the job of maintaining and running a website and have no experience at all. I have been frantically learning HTML and CSS and am starting to get to grips with things. However, our site is entirely made up of php files. So I am now trying to teach myself php. My question is, how can I start playing with and trying out php stuff without having to load it onto the server? Our site is hosted by an outside company and I don't want to have to pay hosting costs for my learning site. Is there a way to do this?

laserlight

NotVeryTechie wrote:
My question is, how can I start playing with and trying out php stuff without having to load it onto the server?

Install the web server software and PHP (and the database software, if any) on your local computer. For more information read the stickied threads in the Install forum.

NotVeryTechie

Thanks! I am a bit nervous about this as it sounds like a really serious thing to do and I am not confident about this!

NogDog

NotVeryTechie;10893195 wrote:
Thanks! I am a bit nervous about this as it sounds like a really serious thing to do and I am not confident about this!

If on a Windows PC: WAMP

If on pretty much any PC (including Windows): XAMPP

I prefer WAMP for Windows, though many prefer XAMPP. XAMPP also has versions for Linux and Mac.

NotVeryTechie

NogDog, thanks for this advice. I am sorry to sound like a dunce, but what exactly is WAMP? I had a look at the site and from what I understand you have to download WAMP and install it and then install Apache and PHP inside the WAMP??

laserlight

NotVeryTechie wrote:
what exactly is WAMP?

A third party installer that allows you to select what you want to install (Apache, MySQL and/or PHP) and then installs what you selected and makes some routine configurations automatically. I prefer to use the official installers for Apache and MySQL (and whatever other database I need) and then install PHP from the zip archive. However, this requires you to read the installation instructions given in the PHP manual (available from php.net).

NogDog

I'm much lazier than Laserlight: I prefer to download WAMP, run it, select a few options, and start coding. 🙂 But if you really want to understand how everything works and ensure you have complete control over the exact configuration you want, then by all means follow his suggested process.

NotVeryTechie

Thanks for getting back NogDog. I don't understand the instructions from laserlight. I really am very new to this. What I needed to know was what WAMP actually does. Does it mean if I download WAMP I don't have to download Apache and PHP (I don't even know what Apache is, except that it wears feather headdresses).

Thanks

NogDog

WAMP is a single installer that will install Apache, MySQL, and PHP on a Windows PC, thus the "WAMP" acronym. You end up with the same software installed as you would if you downloaded and installed each separately, but it does most of the "grunt work" for you. WAMP also comes with a useful user interface for modifying/inspecting settings of all 3 parts from one mouse click on its system tray icon.

rokchik

The other handy thing is that you can get a zipped version of Xampp and unzip it to a usb drive, making your server portable. MySQL, PHP and Apache come configured and ready to go in Xampp.
Btw, WAMP is older than XAMPP, so Xampp has been updated more recently. http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#521

You can also get coding tools and a browser from portableapps.com and keep those on your usb drive too. http://portableapps.com/apps

NotVeryTechie

And this won't interfere with the work I am doing on the live site (in Dreamweaver and using FileZilla)? Sorry about all the questions, just nervous of something I don't really know and understand.

Geejayz

Or you could simply use a free webhost like freezoka.com

That should give you some time to figure out the ideas but still give you a quick starting point.

rokchik

nd this won't interfere with the work I am doing on the live site (in Dreamweaver and using FileZilla)? Sorry about all the questions, just nervous of something I don't really know and understand.

No problem. Xampp installed on a usb drive will only serve up files from the /xampp/htdocs folder on the usb drive, so your work on the live site can easily be separated by keeping it on another drive or even in a folder inside /xampp/htdocs/ .

You could then access the test site by typing localhost/testsite/ or your version of the live site by typing localhost/livesite/ (both into the address bar of whatever browser you're using). This is much quicker than uploading the latest version to someone else's server, finding a bug and fixing it and then uploading the next version.

You could also use Filezilla to transfer your files from localhost/livesite/ to the server that shows it to the world.

In this way you could have many websites at the development, production and testing stages on your usb drive.

NotVeryTechie

OK now I have a major crisis and I hope you guys can help. Our IT guy (consultant) came in yesterday and installed WAMP on our company server and did all the things that needed doing. We have a test site! Problem is - now my Dreamweaver won't work. Until yesterday it was perfect. Now I can't check files out (it says they are read only) and if I do get them open and do some work, I can't save the changes to the website. Looks like it is syncronising with the test server, not the website, but I didn't change any of the settings on Dreamweaver, just loaded in the test site. Please help!!! I am frantic. 😕

laserlight

You might want to ask the IT consultant that your company is paying for help 😉

NotVeryTechie

The consultant only comes in when we arrage it and he is not a web person. He set up everything by following the instructions (which are really good), but is not familiar with DreamWeaver. I tried out my colleague's DreamWeaver and that is still working, so it has something to do with setting up the test site. But we didn't change any other settings in DreamWeaver. Hope someone has an idea!

NotVeryTechie

Ok, it looks like I may have just been a dunce. I was in Local View - which is what I used before - and now switched to Remote View and that seems to work. :o

xpatriot

xampp !!!!