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PHP and what else?


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#1
Susan528

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I have maintained a couple of websites for volunteer organizations that are client-side only and I used Microsoft's FrontPage. Now I would like to learn PHP. I would like to add scripts to allow person to register at the site so that we could email notices about upcoming meetings, classes, workshops, etc. Therefore this would involve database.

I am trying to decide whether I should get rid of FrontPage altogther but I do use it for the wysiwyg editor and the uploading. I know I would have to disable FP extensions to use the PHP and certain modifications. I bought a good book on PHP but I am not sure whether it would be too confusing trying to use MS product and PHP?

What would be the best approach? If I decided to dump FP, what would I need? I am not ready to purchase DreamWeaver. Can anyone tell me what they use and why?
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#2
thenotch

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Dump FP regardless of what you are going to do.

If you don't want to purchase Dreamweaver there are plenty of other good GUI HTML editors out there... and you should be using Notepad or something similar anyway as the code view is really what you should be working with.

Do a Google search for HTML editors and you will find a lot to choose from. Regardless you should get away from FP and the propriety extensions it uses.

I use Dreamweaver simply because I can do standard designs quickly and then jump directly to code view to modify.
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#3
Michael

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I use a text editor (EditPad) since I do a lot of PHP and MySql (the database). I think it is quicker in the end, I can type up a basic page in 30 minutes, and have a finished template for the rest of the site in 3 hours to 8 hours (depending on complexity).

But if you must have a wysiwyg (I am not considering keeping FP as even an option here) and for free, try NVU, http://www.nvu.com/index.php

But if you can't master HTML, your going to have even more problems with PHP.
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#4
glen_m_32

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I now use HTML-kit for a code editor, i find it helpful, it auto completes tags for you eg, i type <img scr=" it then adds " alt=" ">

also all the tags are coloured and makes it easier to read. You can also use it for build tables using drop-down menu's (it builds your code). I'm not sure what PHP it has, but i still use it for PHP editiing and conf file for Apache!

I agree. dump FP.

Hope this helps!
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#5
Susan528

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Thanks, I believe I need to dump FP so that also means that I will need an FTP application. What do you use for that?

One reason I did like FP is that I had XP Pro and set up the server on my pc. Thus I could test on my machine before I uploaded to site where have purchased hosting. I loaded the PHP, mySQL, to my machine and had tested it, but of course it IIS is MS based. Guess I would need to dump this idea of testing on pc then. Do you solely use remote server then for your work?
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#6
ScHwErV

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The way you code the page has nothing to do with the way you can view or test the page. You just have to save the pages into the webroot of the IIS config and you can continue to test using http://localhost from your browser.

Also, use CoreFTP. Doesn't get much easier than that.
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#7
Susan528

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So you are saying that I could continue to use server on pc but not use the FP to test? Then upload the pages etc. with FTP? Therefore I would not encounter the problems with incompatibility with FP and MS? Maybe I am trying to make things too difficult. Guess I am concerned with FP extensions on the IIS, will that impact anything? Do I need to remove that?

Does IIS as MS product cause problems with trying to set up site locally for testing (PHP, MySQL, etc.) before uploading to remote server?
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#8
ScHwErV

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Yes, you can continue to use localhost server to test your pages. Just forget FP completely. To test, just open your normal browser and go to http://localhost. That will take you to the web host on your machine.
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#9
Michael

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I sometimes have used http://www.apachefri...pp-windows.html It is great for a fully set up Apache-PHP-MySql system.
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#10
Susan528

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Thank you everyone for your replies! :whistling: I appreciate all the suggestions!
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