Product Description

Want to assert yourself as a cutting–edge PHP web developer? Take a practical approach, learning by example from author Quentin Zervaas, and discover how to bring together the many technologies needed to create a successful, modern web application. In Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP, PHP, MySQL, CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript/Ajax development techniques are brought together to show you how to create the hottest PHP web applications, from planning and design up to final implementation, without going over unnecessary basics that will hold you back. This book includes must–have application features such as search functionality, maps, blogs, dynamic image galleries, and personalized user areas. The Zend Framework is used extensively to build the application, allowing you to focus on developing the application rather than on reinventing the wheel. Topics covered include application planning and design; setting up the application framework; using CSS for easier styling; adding dynamic effects the easy way using JavaScript libraries such as Prototype and script.aculo.us; and implementing several must–have web application features such as user login, blogs, dynamic image galleries, search functionality, mapping with Google Maps, and much more. Zervaas covers everything in a practical, tutorial style so you can start working on your own projects as quickly as possible. * Create cutting–edge PHP/MySQL web applications. * Implement must–have functionality such as blogs, maps, search functionality, and dynamic image galleries. * Master styling with CSS and dynamic effects using Ajax/JavaScript libraries. What you’ll learn * How to set up the perfect PHP/MySQL application development environment * How to implement basic user management functionality * How to use many of the components from the Zend Framework * How to effectively make use of the Prototype and script.aculo.us JavaScript libraries, including many examples of developing custom JavaScript classes * How to create standards–compliant and accessible HTML code and effectively style it using CSS * How to create a basic blog system and enhance it with Ajax * How to add personalized user areas to your web application * How to create a dynamic image gallery * How to add search functionality to your application * How to use the Google Maps API to add maps to your application * How to implement popular Web 2.0 features, such as microformats, tags, and web feeds

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39446 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 569 pages

Customer Reviews

Wow. Awesome, but not for the faint hearted
This is my third book I've bought on the subject. I do love this book because I bought it looking for a challenge and looking for an introduction to the Zend Framework and Smarty. This book provides all, and a lot, lot more.

The book "holds your hand" through the process of creating a full scale Weblog that makes efficient use of all the Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX, Zend, Smarty and it even helps you create dynamic image galleries and integrate Google Maps. This is very very good, however my main concern is that the book is a little too easy to just "take in" without actually realising the content.

For example, I often find myself typing out the provided code without actually understanding what it's doing, so I have to refer to another book I own for help regarding Object-Oriented PHP syntax, and then re-read the chapter and code listing.

I really do love this book because I feel like I will have achieved a result when I finish it, but my concern is that will I have learnt enough to reapply the knowledge elsewhere, having simply just copied the code from the listings? It's a tough one.

To summarise - I'd recommend it to anyone who is quite seasoned in PHP and Object-Oriented Programming. The author submerges you in an ocean of Object-Oriented PHP using the Zend Framework within the first few chapters, and so if you aren't so good with Object-Oriented Programming then you may be more at home with something else.

That said, if you're prepared to learn Object-Oriented PHP beforehand and you are looking to learn how to apply all of the typical buzzwords of today's technology such as AJAX, MVC (Model View Controller), Zend, Smarty etc to an example, with expert guidance, you'll be right at home.

Good luck :-)

Solid introduction to creating a complete web application using PHP
I recently received a copy of this book to review from the publisher and thought I would post a quick review here.

In this book the author takes us through creating a web application from concept to deployment. The "Web 2.0" application used here is a blogging application supporting images, tagging, microformats and geographical data. To speed development existing libraries and frameworks are used including Zend framework, PEAR and Smarty on the server side and prototype and script.aculo.us on the client side. Chapter five is entirely dedicated to introducing the javascript libraries. Through the rest of the book the application is slowly built up.

With a book like this it is easy to criticise the decisions taken. There are almost as many different ways to create a functioning web application as there are people developing them. This book can only ever present one approach to application development and it does this well. The book is dominated by code, as would be expected, but the supporting text is informative and easy to follow. Overall it is a solid introduction to putting together a complete web application with some real gems. The chapters on google maps and deployment I found to be particularly good.

If you're considering purchasing this book be sure to check out the publishers site as they have a sample chapter freely available for download.

Great stuff
This book is a wide-ranging guide to using PHP with frameworks and Web 2.0 technology. It also includes a very useful introduction to the excellent Zend Framework for PHP, although this is slightly out of date now that ZF version 1.5 is available. The book provides plenty of practical examples of how to use a variety of tools and techniques for PHP and AJAX (Prototype and Scriptaculous), including database access, user authorisation, templates with Smarty etc, all in the context of a sample blog application. It is not for complete beginners, but it will take you a long way towards building a robust MVC-based web 2.0 PHP application with the latest technology. Thoroughly recommended.