Cheap PHP Web Hosting

Most web hosting providers that offer Linux web hosting solutions will provide cheap PHP web hosting nowadays. But what is PHP and why do you need it? We are often asked about PHP hosting and most are very basic questions and so we decided to create this quick overview of PHP web hosting which should help you determine if you need to use PHP on your website and if so, what you can use it for.

What is PHP Hosting?

First off, PHP is a general use scripting language that allows you to create more dynamic and interactive websites. You can use PHP for very basic form management or even to create a comprehensive content management system to manage your entire website. PHP provides all the functionality you are likely to need on your website and allow to perform a wide array of useful website functions that will be both beneficial to your users and also streamline the way your website works for you.

Why should you use PHP?

If you stick only to using HTML, you are somewhat limited in terms of functionality. HTML is client side and so any functionality you add would need to be via JavaScript, which is also run client side. While PHP is a server side scripting language which means all the action takes place on your PHP hosting account. Your pages are still output as HTML but PHP can determine how the HTML is provided. So if you wanted to create a page that asks a question via a web form, and then present a different web page content depending upon which options they chose, you'll need PHP to perform this task.

You'll also need a PHP webhosting plan if you want to retrieve data from a MySQL database. As with PHP, you may find that your hosting plan is already setup to allow MySQL web hosting. So if you want to display the latest news on your website, it makes sense to store this data in a MySQL database and interact with it via PHP for presentation on your website.

You may also want to use PHP website hosting if you are planning to deploy a website that has been written in PHP such as wordpress or oscommerce, since you will need to utilise PHP hosting for these to work. While you won't actually need to program in PHP yourself to use these, your web hosting plan will need to be PHP enabled for them to work.

So it is down to what you want your website to do as to whether or not you need PHP web hosting. But if you want your website to perform specific tasks such as manage form data, send out emails, or work with a MySQL database then PHP is for you.

Learning PHP

For first time webmasters, it can all be a bit daunting starting to program with PHP but it is in fact a very easy language to learn, and a great first language. The official PHP website provides all you need to know about PHP and the search engines provide a wealth of tutorials and beginner guides to get your started. We are also going to create a guide that describes how you can create PHP Web Hosting Environment on your own computer so keep your eyes on our web hosting blog. If you have any questions about PHP, please contact us and we will be happy to help.