PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy

• #11 in Best Mysql Books
• #17 in Best PHP Books

40 Reviews

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This book is exactly what I've been looking for, for a long time. I have been creating web sites for years, but haven't had much PHP experience. Some, but not much. Each time I looked for a "solution" online, I came across sloppy articles, conflicting information, difficult to understand code--just generally unsatisfactory, frustrating info for anyone who didn't already know PHP really well. Or, the info might be good, but it would take forever to find it. Not any more. I bought this book a few weeks ago, and started using things in it the other day. I have not read the entire book, but I've already incorporated some of the things into some sites I'm working on, and it was a breeze. The book is really well-written. If you have experience in web design but aren't a programmer, you will really benefit from this book. You'll painlessly add a number of really useful tools to your repertoire and be able to offer your clients more the same day you receive the book in the mail. I highly recommend it.

I recently read PHP Solutions by David Powers, and have to say it has been one of the better ones I've come across in awhile - definitely one I will keep at arm's length. I think the best way to describe it is to use an analogy. What CSS Mastery is for CSS, PHP Solutions is for PHP. This book is full of practical PHP tips and tricks that can help you hit the ground running. It takes a learn-by-doing approach.

While this isn't a comprehensive how-to guide covering OOP, it does approach things with a future-proofing mindset. Powers is careful to point out where things are specific to PHP 5, and gives alternatives to making them work in version 4. He also talks about what features will be prevalent in PHP 6, such as PDO (PHP Data Objects) becoming the more standardized way to handle database connectivity.

The first few chapters start off with the basics, showing PHP syntax and explaining how to build dynamic templates using includes. He also shows how to protect includes from being accessed independently of their accompanying pages, storing them separately from publicly accessible directories. He also shows how to build a file-upload interface for use in a basic CMS.

He then goes on to build a photo blog, complete with auto-generated thumbnails. One cool solution he uses is checking the width of an image, and then using that numerical value to set the width of a paragraph which contains explanatory text. By constraining the width, it keeps the line of text from being longer than the image is wide. He also shows how to use PHP's date output to keep the copyright for your site on-par with the current year.

The latter part of the book gets into more advanced topics such as user management, remember sessions with cookies, and handling database security. By the time you complete this book, you will have the know-how to create a light-weight content management system that will uniquely fit your needs.

I really like that PHP Solutions takes you through the process of creating a dynamic site from start to finish, unlike many books which contain a slew of disparate examples. I would unreservedly recommend it to anyone looking to get into PHP. For another opinion, read the book review by Jonathan Snook [...]freelance web developer and member of the CakePHP [...] documentation team.

I was probably about two books shy of giving up on ever learning anything useful about PHP so I'm thrilled to have discovered this book when I did!

I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination but I know HTML, a fair amount of CSS, and I have a cursory understanding of how programming works. I've also successfully (but not often painlessly) installed and customized several ready-made PHP scripts so I've long been aware of how much more PHP could help me accomplish if I only had a better understanding of it.

I purchased several books on the subject over the years but could never get much past the first few chapters with any of them -- usually not even that much. Among my biggest problems was that it seemed I wasn't getting enough doses of practical information to stay motivated. This also made it difficult to be aware of any progress I might be making -- or if I even was. Sometimes the information didn't build up logically enough for me so it was harder to retain anything I might have learned. Often, even when a book claimed to be for beginners, in some areas it used jargon or presumed I knew things I didn't know at all while becoming excruciatingly basic in other areas. It was a constant struggle with little or no reward.

But none of this was the case with PHP SOLUTIONS.

I've been methodically reading just a few pages (rarely more) every night so as not to overload my circuits which were already weakened from so much frustration. The information is authoritative but the writing style is approachable, both of which made it so much easier for me to persevere. I also didn't allow myself to get too bogged down or frustrated: if there was something I wasn't getting, even after a few passes, I moved on with the hopes it would make more sense later, and it usually did. But I feel as though I'm at least grasping the majority of what's been presented. Although I have not been following along and performing the exercises as recommended (just reading and studying), I still sense definite progress and comprehension that I never felt with any of the other books. Once I decide on something I want to incorporate into a web site, I will revisit those chapters more thoroughly. This probably wouldn't work for most people, but it usually works best for me.

At any rate, I'm nearly half way through the book now and still eager to continue. That's enough to convince me. I can't say I expect to ever be able to write my own scripts from scratch (unless they're very simple), but if I'm at least able to find my way around many existing scripts (surely the ones covered in this book) and customize them for my own needs, it will be HUGE. And I CAN say I feel confident I'll be able to achieve at least that much, which I know will serve my needs and is much more than I expected after all the false starts and frustrations I've been through and how close I came to quitting.

Wow, am I impressed! I've worked through about half the book and read part of the rest. I'll work through all of it, but I've already used some of it on a live website. I usee some of the code as-is, and the rest with only minor modifications. David is very security-minded, which I greatly appreciate.

I'm an experienced programmer, and have developed static websites, but was quite new to PHP when I started. I found the level of information excellently suited to me - enough introductory material, but not so much as to bog me down. Some of the code challenged me, but that's what helps me learn and put my own twist on things.

Thank you David!

If you're looking for a book to learn php, this one's not the one. The author is relying heavily on the reader's mind-reading abilities figuring out what to do. This book requires lots of head scratching, note taking, and is very frustrating to follow. It contains far too many mistakes and typos to have been released. It seems the buyer is the proof reader. Several times I have thought I had made a mistake only to find that it was yet another mistyped line/word/phrase in the book. The download files given to compare the work to are not the same as the ones created if you're following the chapters. Maybe it's good for experienced programmers, but if I were experienced with php, would I need the book? I guess software/programming books are much like software itself: authors and developers release it and rely on the buyers to find the mistakes and fix them after it has been sold. Only with a book you're stuck wit hit. The corrections mentioned on the publisher's website for this book contain errors, too. So don't rely on them to be correct!

I own and have read several PHP books of varying helpfulness, but PHP Solutions is one of my favorites because:

1. it's aimed at Web Designers with little, or no, PHP experience
2. the examples are practical and can be applied to actual projects (no joke databases)
3. doesn't neglect the design aspect of websites
4. the author uses web standards-compliant coding
5. there's a clear emphasis on security-minded coding (which is important with such a powerful and flexible language)

So if you're looking to delve into dynamic, server-side, scripting languages this may be the perfect book to get you rolling.

I have been designing with php for a little over a year now and after looking at many books on the subject, i must say that this one is one of the best. it has practical solutions that are current and that can be easily implemented into a site.

However, as good as this book is, it's not a good book for beginners. it's resonalbly fast paced, and for the php newbie, i could see it being a little overwhelming. But if you have a little php experience behind your back, this book is a must have.

Like the book's title and sub-title states "PHP Solutions Dynamic Web Design Made Easy" The books does an excellent job of showing how to do some useful things with PHP and Mysql. Is it an easy way to master PHP as the cover implies? NO!!!
It's more like a beginner's cookbook, rather than a book that will give you a solid foundation on building web sites using PHP Mysql.
The book is missing on a few points like the content management section. Where's the front end of the thing? It shows you a way of building the admin side, but not the user(front)side of the system. It wasn't difficult to figure out how to build the front end, but I didn't buy the book to have to figure that out. It should have been included. This book like all the PHP books I have purchased is very strong on somethings and severely lacking in others. This book has a few good how-to's but lacks in what for and why. There are other books that are good on what for and why, but don't show you how to apply it. There is no happy medium. I haven't found a book yet that shows you how to build anything really useful, with the complete support of the theory behind it all.
If you are just starting out and want to know how to do a thing or two fast, without spendings 8 months working through one of the many 1000 plus page php books out there, then this book is okay for that.
If you want to learn PHP Mysql for serious professional level development, then stick to the big red books and, or the books with the funny looking animals on the cover, knuckle down and put in the time. It is really the only way you will ever learn how to do anything worthwhile with any programming language. You gotta put in the time.

I am an advanced HTML and CSS developer, but PHP and mySQL is always an issue. I don't have much time either to read a book. But I have to say this is one of the best PHP books I have purchased. It is also the easiest to follow.

Instead of wasting your time with where PHP comes from, or a bunch of useless pages of information. The author focuses on providing you information with using PHP in a PRODUCTION ENVIROMENT! Which is the biggest thing of all. You have to know the difference between production and educational in a real world enviroment and he nailed it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to strengthen their PHP and mySQL knowledge.

I purchased this book to begin learning dynamic web design in php/mySQL. The early chapters in the book do a good job of explaining the basics of programing in php and walking you through step by step the how and why.

My only complaint is toward the end of the book, particularly when more complex mySQL programming is included (which is great) but there wasn't enough explanation as to why these lines of code go next, or what exactly it is each line is really doing.

If I were to do it over again I would absolutely purchase this book, it is a good resource that I'm sure I will refer too time and time again.

So many computer books are like learning how to ride a bike, but this one is different. You actaully ride the book with PHP Solutions. The author explains and provides code that is extremely useful in your every day PHP/MYSQL projects. The code is good code, in that he introduces includes from the getgo, and upon submit the pages call themselves, which is great for data validation. Also, he is extremely approachable via the friends of ed forum, which is way cool. Buy this book. It is fantastic.

Don't purchase this book expecting to actually learn php. The book is written mostly as a "follow my example to get this done" rather then actually teaching php syntax and the php namespace, which is alright but not very pedagogical at all. I guess you can use it as one would use an O'reilly cook book, as reference guide with examples on how to do a web form, gallery, etc. It would have been much better if the author didn't go all out with the progressive enhancement on steroids routine so early on, it's just not conducive to teaching someone how php or any coding language works and gets in the way initially. He could have saved it for a later chapter where he introduces the principals of progressive enhancement and then applies it to the past tutorials. This book is good if you are a lazy designer who just wants someone to show them how to write a simple gallery or a php webform but you won't be writing your own php scripts just from reading this book.

I decided I wanted to add PHP to my website to make it more dynamic and reduce maintenance. But I didn't know any PHP. So I picked up PHP Solutions and within an hour or two of opening the front cover, I had converted my website to PHP and added several dynamic features that were demonstrated in the book!

This book is brilliant. It provides a good background and understanding of PHP and the examples are easy to follow and apply straight away. It also shows you how to keep your code safe and avoid ugly error messages.

Too little explanation between centralized server and virtual server. The author tells you to use Dreamweaver, but then does not provide enough information to use it. I went through the first three chapters without a problem, and then tried to start using the downloaded code examples. Immediately I ran into problems with Dreamweaver asking for information about the local host and test server that I did not know. The php pages are unable to open in the browser, and the includes file cannot be located.. I'm giving up and buying a different book that provides more guidance on the front end.

I wish more of the books I have seen on programming were written like this one. The author presents a practical application of what can be done with PHP in each chapter and these are things that are likely going to be needed in the majority of PHP websites. He also explains step by step how to install and set up Apache, MySQL and PHP. A great way to learn PHP.

I've had trouble learning PHP from other resources before this book. I think it's because most books and tutorials take a "look at what this function you'll never use can do" approach. Not this book. As with most "FOE" books, the progressive learning centers around a (mostly) real world project that includes css and html issues. I think that is why this just "clicks" with me - I've never been able to get any use out of bland theory that is divorced from the rest of the whole picture. I've got to see the beauty of the design and the elegance of the code together - and this book does that.

Is it the complete all out reference for php? Probably not. And I don't guess an absolute web design beginner would be thrilled with it. But I don't think it is meant for either of those two things. I think it is best for those who may have tried php before but just couldn't stick with it. This book has enough in it to get you over the hump with php. At that point you can start answering your own question.

I just wish this book would have been around 5 years ago.

I've purchased many books on PHP and MySQL, but this one is my absolute favorite! I like the style in which the author writes. It's like a person is teaching you rather than following steps or a very technical 1-2-3 pattern as many of the other books do. This one is fun to read and I'm actually learning the language, setting up a database (real examples that are fun and not boring) and it's one of those books that I reach for over all the rest because I'm not intimidated or bored with it. I have soooooo many books on languages including PHP, but I'm so happy to have found one here that really keeps me eager in the reading. I actually feel like the author is walking me through much like a one on one approach in a classroom with a good teacher.....a fun and personable teacher that makes the learning exciting. I think that's how I'll sum up this review - the author is very personable and down to earth in his writing. It doesn't feel like he's going over your head in any part of the book. He's got a comical and yet very informative approach that I credit for getting me through the learning process of PHP and MySQL whereas the other books have been left collecting dust....this one is helping me push forward in my skills. I highly recommend it!!!! I hope he writes more books. To find an author like this to write and teach a subject like this - I'm impressed, and I hope he puts more books out there in other areas too.

I brought "PHP and MySQL Web Development" under the course instructor's requirement. And I found it is very difficult to read.
I'm a designer, don't have a strong programming skill. Then another teacher introduced this book to me. I borrowed from library and I'm reading this book now! This is a best PHP book. Unlike the "PHP and MySQL Web Development" book, this "PHP Solution" is trying not to use too much programming terms. It interpreted all the programming concept in a easier way which normal people can understand it.
For example: array.
"PHP and MySQL Web Development"---- Array: used to store multiple data items.
"PHP Solution"---- Array: PHP lets you store multiple values in a special type of variable.

I just found this book is so much easier to understand!
Recommend to all none-programming people!

Good F$#@!ing book. just go buy it! If your interested in learning what everything means when you read code that you\'ve cut and pasted. You will know it by the end of chapter 3. No $h!t. I'm just like dang! I give a shout out for Dave, Make more books like this one!

This is my first book on learning PHP, so maybe that's why it was difficult for me, but I would often give up on something, then search the web or other books for a tutorial, only to find that the answers were in this book all along.

I wanted to create an image gallery using php, and found a halfway decent tutorial on the net, but didn't realize that this book actually covers image galleries.

Some nice tutorials in this book revolve around,

- blogs
- event lists
- user registrations
- file uploads
- image galleries
- and a bunch of other stuff.

If your learning PHP this is a good book to buy, even if you don't understand everything, you can bounce around to different books or online tutorials, then refer back to this book and maybe it'll make more sense.

I've had a crack at PHP 3 times now. The 1st time my confidence was shattered. But I now know that the code in that book was riddled with errors. By the 2nd time, I knew how to write code (other languages), and was able to identify that the 2nd book which I tried had code that was also riddled with errors. But this 3rd time has been a resounding success, thanks to Mr Powers.

Great explanations, great examples, great code. By the end of this book, you will have the foundation in PHP to go on and create some great PHP apps. And thanks again for the minimal errata and the downloadable code that actually works.

I am pretty new to PHP, with not a great deal of coding experience. Over the last year I have bought 4 books, each which have been hailed as 'The best book for learning PHP.' Sadly, these books have been too dry or detailed for me to follow as a beginner, so most of my learning has come from online tutorials.

This book however is quite different... David Powers gives good practical applications, and goes through the steps of coding them, explaining why and how along the way.. so it becomes a much more interesting and interactive learning experience. This is a great book, a big thumbs up to David Powers.

There isn't a friendsofed book that I have read which I didn't like. I struggle with code and their books make it... not easy to learn... but easier than others (code is never 'easy' to learn). If you struggle with learning code and want to start adding PHP to your sites... this book is for you. I would also recommend their PHP for Dreamweaver book. I bought both at the same time.

If you are a web designer wanting to break in behind the scenes and learn some PHP, but you're on the fence... this book is for you. Very practical and real life examples, each chapter builds on the last. You learn photo galleries, forms, databases. I have really enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book to everyone. And there is no CD to lug around, all the files are downloaded online. If you are wondering about PHP, this book should be your first stop.

This book is easy to read and easy to follow. The only downside is there are now review questions or tests at the end of the chapter to test yourself on what you've read.

I purchesed this book hoping it would give good examples. NOT!!! Just another book for people who already know what they are doing. Now this is my opinion and this book did nothing to help explain the INCLUDE function or how to handle directories in php which is the help I was looking for.

Good stuff. I have had to keep staring at PHP code long enough to absorb where to start. This book gives you a good amount of "enough" to write a decent program. Would recommend..........

This book finally put all the pieces together for me with php. I have been attempting to learn php for several months with a variety of books. And just when I think I get it something comes up that throws me off again.This book has filled in the gaps for me, finally making sense of php. I love the way every step is broken down and explained thoroughly. I finally get it, php that is.
Thanks

This is the fourth book I've purchased regarding PHP scripting & it's by far the best. It's written in plain English and presented intuitively. The examples given in the book are scripts that I actually plan on using in future projects. David Powers doesn't delve too deeply into the nuts and bolts of each script like many other books I've tried. He keeps it simple and practical.

David Powers has surpassed all other books in his field. The best e-mail procedure I have ever seen. He also tells us why we are doing what we are doing. This book I keep reading over and over and learn new information each time I read it.

I have read two books from different publishers and authors on this subject. The other is called Build Your own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP & MySQL from Sitepoint, i recommend that book. I believe sitepoint is one of the better publishers for beginners and their newer books are very well written. Compared to PHPSolutions I believe that this book shows much better methods of organization and gives the reader a better understanding of the subjects. His writing is very elegant and would be very good for a beginner but yet after reading another book on php and mysql i am still learning valuable techniques and strategies from this book.

This book focuses a little more on styling a functioning website, the author brings up points that will work for the site he is creating, but will probably not work in sites you create and you will need to change a lot of the code. The Sitepoint version of this book offers greater understanding of the topic and less focus on making a site then creating a working database and site that retrieves it. One thing i do like about Phpsolutions is how it included PDO instead of just the mysqli connection method. Although allot of the book was devoted to describe each connection method.

I hope this review will make you consider looking at the sitepoint website, and another great thing about sitepoint is they offer large previews of their books so you can see what you are getting into.

I have read David Powers book on DreamWeaver CS4 and was blown away by how great it was so I ordered PHP solutions. I find it hard to put this book down it is chock full of knowledge and I love knowledge. Some people may say "why don't you just read the php documentation?" The truth is that the PHP documentation is boring as all get out and could get you into some very bad programming habits. Davids book makes programming exciting and helps you avoid bad programming habits. I find this book very exciting, but then again I love programming. I took the book to my flash programming college class and one of my classmates plans to buy it because they were so impressed by the few pages they read and how much I loved it. I could rave on how great this book is for ten more paragraphs but I'm going to stop.

The_Missing_Link

This book is exactly what I needed. If you're new to php or web-programming then this book is definitely worth a look. It has everything you need to know to begin programming in php without the programming jargon and unnecessary details.

I've been using this book as a started. It takes you from zero to hero in minimal time. Teaching the techniques and cool stuff as soon as you have the requirements for understanding them and them walks you through the entire process. Great book - worth every penny.

Excellent book. I had no previous experience in PHP/ mysql and this book gives you a strong base to be the best. I wish it only had more complicated exampled on mysql (or the writer to write a book on mysql for beginners). I just ordered his other book about OOP in PHP.

This is easily the best book I've found on PHP for beginners. It's not the only book I'm using, but boy am I glad I started here. I have several years of experience with HTML, CSS, and ASP, and have recently decided to learn PHP/MySQL. If you have some background in web design, and want to learn PHP, David Powers is your man. Keep writing David!

This book is very easy to read and far from the boring technical manual I was afraid off. Although, it's casual style by no means hinders the great amount of information it contains.

Thanks David!!

This is by far the best PHP book I've purchased. PHP and MySQL are much easier to understand then ASP and SQL Server. This is coming form someone that learned ASP and MSSQL first.


Regards!
Rich

After skimming the book, and reading several chapters, I cannot wait to sit down with Dreamweaver 8 and really put the clearly written book to use. I believe it and Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8 by David Powers will compliment each other.

This is a great book. It is very helpful, and the desciptions are very clear. I highly reccomend it.