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PHP and Web Hosting Help Needed

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MrHelpful
MrHelpful Posts: 172 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
Hello,

I am trying to learn PHP and am looking for a web hosting site which I could use to explore PHP in creating a web site. I don't mind paying for it but nothing too much! I did signup to mybesthost.com however they did not allow me to use the MAIL() function on their free web hosting website neither did they allow me to create an email address for the site.

Any useful sites on PHP and web hosting (which support PHP) would be appreciated.

Thanks
«1

Comments

  • intel
    intel Posts: 6,404 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Give these guy a go I use them all the time and PHP supported.

    http://www.34sp.com/

    http://www.34sp.com/hostingfeatures.php
  • irnbru_2
    irnbru_2 Posts: 1,603 Forumite
    MrHelpful wrote:
    Hello,

    I am trying to learn PHP and am looking for a web hosting site which I could use to explore PHP in creating a web site. I don't mind paying for it but nothing too much! I did signup to mybesthost.com however they did not allow me to use the MAIL() function on their free web hosting website neither did they allow me to create an email address for the site.

    You don't need a host to learn PHP just download a LAMP or WAMP package for your own computer.
  • MrHelpful
    MrHelpful Posts: 172 Forumite
    Would it be easier just to pay £15 and have a play with the site Intel has suggested? What do u think?
  • intel
    intel Posts: 6,404 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    If its for learning Id suppose its up to you, I would go with a site
    and use it for learning so I can do it myself, isnt that what you wanted... :beer:
  • MrHelpful
    MrHelpful Posts: 172 Forumite
    Yup, I guess its learning by doing and at the end I would have a full all whizzing site I guess. Cheers
  • irnbru_2
    irnbru_2 Posts: 1,603 Forumite
    MrHelpful wrote:
    I am looking to download PHPMyAdmin for Windows XP, can anyone point me in the right direction and which version I should be downloading, as I am getting confused with which version is for Windows XP and stable. Rather download this app then write hundreds of scripts to create tables.

    Admitedly I don't program PHP but ... you shouldn't be downloading a WinXP specific version. Its written in PHP and not a windows binary.

    Try here and download the zipped version of 2.7.0-pl2.

    Which version of PHP are you using?
  • tigermatt
    tigermatt Posts: 1,925 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    MrHelpful wrote:
    I guess its learning by doing
    You may need some sort of reference guide/book - here's the one I learnt PHP with: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672326728/qid=1136391831/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-8168067-6795654

    Once you know the basics, you just need to practise and eventually you will get a great knowledge of PHP and you won't need to guide (although it is still a good reference).

    :)
  • tigermatt
    tigermatt Posts: 1,925 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    PHP can be a pain to setup on IIS (haven't done Apache yet) and, ideally, you need the ISAPI instead of the CGI because CGI doesn't come with pre-loaded extensions/modules. Trouble is, ISAPI can't be installed automatically with an installer like the CGI - you have to configure it manually and check & set every setting in your php.ini (configuration file) manually. It can be a hard process but the result means you don't have to upload files to a webhost every time you want to execute them.

    If you aren't too sure and don't want to risk it, I recommend you go with a web host with support for PHP (see intel's post 2 for a great site). I would also recommend you look into MySQL (an open-source, powerful database server) as you can interact with it from the PHP scripts and store info in the database. The book I posted in my previous post teaches PHP and MySQL... The book also comes with a CD with all the scripts used in the book on. :)
  • MrHelpful
    MrHelpful Posts: 172 Forumite
    Hello,

    After much deliberation, last night. I decided to download WAMP on the guidance of an earlier post (irnbru) and I have successfully installed PHP 2.7.0, MySQL 5.0.17, PHPMyAdmin, Apache 2.0.55, SMTP Server on my laptop running Windows XP. I do not intend to download ISAPI, what is it and do I need it when running on Apache?

    However I know very little about WAMP, is it Windows specific and can my laptop potentially be a web host as I have manage to create a basic PHP script so far.
  • greyster
    greyster Posts: 2,392 Forumite
    https://www.jamroll.co.uk are completely free. They support php, mysql and more.

    They simply stick TINY google ads (not images) at the bottom of your site. An example is my own personal site, found here https://www.ibyte.co.uk (take a look at the bottom).
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