Preface

Boring web sites are static. Interesting web sites are dynamic. That is, their content changes. A giant static HTML page listing the names, pictures, descriptions, and prices of all 1,000 products a company has for sale is hard to use and takes forever to load. A dynamic web product catalog that lets you search and filter those products so you see only the six items that meet your price and category criteria is more useful, faster, and much more likely to close a sale.

The PHP programming language makes it easy to build dynamic web sites. Whatever interactive excitement you want to create—such as a product catalog, a blog, a photo album, or an event calendar—PHP is up to the task. And after reading this book, you'll be up to the task of building that dynamic web site, too.