January 23rd, 2020 | Updated on October 25th, 2023
Unless you’re an entrepreneur who isn’t interested in growing their brand, having a website is an absolute necessity. Today, a website can help you generate new business, promote your brand among customers, and deliver marketing messages.
Unlike in the past where building a business website was a hectic affair, today you can do easily do it on your own. And if you aren’t tech-savvy, hire dedicated development team to help you design and build a website is also an option.
Why Should You Become A PHP Web Developer?
You may ask…
For one simple reason…PHP programming language is one of the most widely used language for website and web application development. And with a reason.
According to a 2019 survey conducted by W3Techs, PHP is the most popular server-side programming language, powering over 79.1% of all the websites whose server-side programming language is known. This essentially means that for every 10 websites you visit, 8 of them are using PHP in some way.
In this article, we are going to look at what PHP programming language is, its uses, and why it should be on top of your list when looking to build a website.
But first…
What Is PHP Programming Language?
PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language that is predominately used by programmers as a server-side scripting language to produce dynamic web applications.
Generally, php scripts are a set of programming instructions whose sole purpose is to perform routine tasks for an app or enhance its performance.
PHP language heavily borrows most of its syntax from other established programming languages including Java, C, and Perl, and it has grown to become one of the most widely used web development languages in any business environment.
Popular Websites And e-Commerce Platforms That Use PHP
Despite being rocked by a few challenges, many popular websites and e-Commerce stores still continue to hold on to PHP development.
Below is a list of 5 noteworthy sites and e-Commerce platforms built with PHP:
1. Facebook
This renowned social networking platform was originally developed using PHP. However, Facebook recently introduced Hack which is a new PHP-derived language to allow for seamless interoperability. Hack allows developers to easily update and fix-errors of the existing PHP codebase.
2. Magento
This open-source e-commerce platform used PHP in coding and designing. Additionally, Magento’s extensions and modules are also based on PHP.
3. WordPress
At least 20% of all existing websites on the internet are powered by WordPress. And guess what? This famous CMS was written in PHP programming language.
Since inception, WordPress has taken full advantage of all the PHP features to conduct all of its processing including, checking options, form fields processing, image uploads, etc.
4. Wikipedia
Although this info resource platform tech stack isn’t restricted to this programming language, PHP’s flexibility is a major asset for Wikipedia’s functionality.
5. Yahoo
This is yet another widely-known website that uses PHP. Boasting of over 7 billion monthly views, Yahoo is the 34th most visited website portal globally, and PHP has definitely proved to be an apt programming language for building large & static websites.
7 Reasons To Choose PHP
From startups to already established businesses, PHP has solely or partially emerged as the programming language of choice for website and e-commerce solutions.
And here is why…
1. Reduces Development Costs
One of the biggest hallmarks of PHP is the fact that it is free. Being an open-source general-purpose scripting language, it is distributed under General Public License which means you don’t have to download it or even pay any licensing fee.
This presents your business with significant savings, considering that PHP programmer salaries are some of the highest in the web and app development world.
Alongside the evident budget savings, PHP also has a large and active global online community that continually tries to enhancements the language’s functionality as well as provide a wide pool of facilities and resources.
As a result of this, hundreds of PHP-based solutions have been invented. So, once you hire PHP developer, you don’t need to invest additional resources trying to reinvent the wheel.
2. Flexible And Dynamic
Another great aspect of PHP is its flexibility and versatility. Being an encrypted server-side scripting language, it is secure and packed with dynamic yet flexible features. Moreover, PHP’s flexible features can be easily customized to meet the prevailing web development needs.
Also, PHP being an open-source language means that developers can use it to write code and combined with dynamic libraries like XML to produce special effects. When it comes to compatibility and scalability, nothing comes close to PHP.
It can be seamlessly deployed on multiple web servers including Microsoft Internet Information Service, Apache, Caudium, and so on.
This makes it a solid choice for businesses looking to incorporate custom business requirements on their website or e-commerce platform.
3. Excellent Performance
Robustness is yet another area that PHP manages to score big points. It comes with an extensive list of excellent core functionalities including multi-browser compatibility, cross-platform adaptability, and secure web apps.
Unlike other web programming languages, PHP can also support all established web servers, which ensures consistently high performance. Better yet, the extra layers of security help protect websites against viruses and other security threats.
Along with excellent compatibility and infallible security, PHP gives you maximum control over the website by allowing you to customize the layout to match your business needs. According to a recent study, 40% of internet users will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load a page.
Thanks to PHP’s faster web pages loading speed, your website’s speed is boosted, which can go a long way towards improving your bottom line.
4. Compatible With Multiple Content Management Systems
A good CMS gives you the liberty to publish content on your website irrespective of your HTML/CSS or web hosting services knowledge. Luckily, PHP is compatible and completely accessible via all Content Management Systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
And since all these systems are based on this framework, your development team is able to create a personalized product that meets your needs.
5. Supports Scalability
PHP powers some of the world’s biggest and high traffic websites that may require constant scaling up. By embedding PHP code into HTML, your development team can start by creating a simple website and scale it up as your business expands using the tools and resources afforded by the multiple PHP frameworks.
And since all these resources are readily available, the development cycle of your project is significantly reduced as well as the PHP developer salary paid. Lastly, in a world where cut-throat competition is a fact of life, faster turn-around time can also give you a competitive edge over your competitors.
6. Easy To Maintain And Update Software
PHP also comes with an easily decipherable syntax, meaning that your development team can easily modify the code. It also means that maintenance and updates can be quickly and cost-effectively implemented.
Furthermore, the regular innovative open-source contributions spawn new functionalities, allowing development teams to create dynamic products that can meet the prevailing market and business. PHP also eliminates professional restrictions.
Since the code is written in a distinct, consistent, and uniform manner, you’re strictly limited to hiring the team that initially worked on your project. In fact, you can hire a different team to provide maintenance and support services immediately after the project is completed.
7. Hassle-Free Hosting
The best web hosting experience is the one you don’t have to constantly keep thinking about or keep you waiting helplessly until everything gets resolved. And that’s where PHP’s compatibility comes in.
PHP is a versatile platform that easily interfaces with all web hosting options and providers, meaning that your website will be running all the time irrespective of the provider.
Even better, PHP’s hosting packages come with free PHP services, free web hosting plans, free domain, and unlimited resource allocation.
Key Take Away
Over the years, the growth of PHP and its frameworks has been phenomenal. The popularity of this server-side scripting language is still growing and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many blue-chip companies continue to trust PHP to power their platforms.
The biggest hallmarks of PHP include cost-efficiency, simplicity, compatibility, user-friendliness, and scalability. Whether used as a stand-alone language or synergistically with other technologies, PHP still remains one of the most pragmatic server-side scripting languages.
With that said, all these advantages of PHP—especially easy accessibility— have been touted as main threats for the language. Its popularity and easy availability have significantly lowered the career entry threshold, which in some cases has led to reduced quality.
As a business looking for a PHP programmer for hire, it is important not to pick just any PHP developer – but a PHP developer who is killed. And this can only be done by carefully scrutinizing their abilities.
