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Chitu Okoli chitu.okoli.org

Posted on Jul 9, 2013 in Computers and the Internet

Web development resources and links

This page compiles  various useful web development resources and links that I have used or come across and that I recommend. I add to it incrementally. Please suggest other useful resources in the comments below.

Contents

General web development resources

Circular spider web representing web development resources

Web development involves spinning a web of valuable pages. Image from Open Clip Art

HTML resources

HTML5 logo representing web development resources

CSS resources

W3C valid CSS logo representing web development resources

 

JavaScript resources

Netscape logo representing web development resources

 

PHP resources

PHP logo representing web development resources

  • Online coding environments for PHP: Most online coding environments don’t support PHP, mainly for security reasons. It’s usually more practical to use a local web server stack like XAMPP. However, these two do support PHP, with some limitations:
    • WriteCodeOnline.com only lets you execute code within a single <?php … ?> block, so is quite limited–you cannot test entire PHP/HTML scripts. At least it does let you see PHP output. However, it doesn’t give you a shareable URL, as most online coding environments do.
    • codepad outputs your PHP as the plain text that a web browser would see and it gives you a shareable URL. However, it doesn’t interpret the output as HTML. Thus, to view the HTML, you need to copy the PHP output to another environment.
  • PHP case-sensitivity: PHP is mostly case-sensitive, but not always. The “not always” could trip you up sometimes.
  • PHP type comparison tables: Which PHP types are equivalent, including true, false and null?
    • Tip: it is much easier to read this page if you do a browser page search for “TRUE” and use your browser’s search functionality to highlight all occurrences.

WordPress resources

WordPress logo representing web development resources

  • WPBeginner: enormous collection of articles for WordPress beginners, intermediate and advanced users
    • WPBeginner videos: the most professional set of introductory WordPress videos I’ve found. Requires free registration.
  • StartBloggingOnline.com: List of various useful links for WordPress
    • 45+ Ways to Use WordPress: Extensive list of the types of websites you can build with WordPress, beyond just blogging, with links to example sites
    • Blog comparison chart: compares WordPress with other popular blogging platforms (not to be confused with content management systems)
  • On Blast Blog: A useful site for getting started with blogging using WordPress
  • Internationalization (i18n) and localization (l12n) in WordPress
    • Internationalization in WordPress Tutorial: A clear and detailed explanation of internationalization and how to implement it in WordPress
      • Even though the article says “localization”, it is actually about “internationalization”.Localization means translating computer software from one original user interface language or culture into a different user interface language or culture. Internationalization means writing computer software in such a way that it is easy to be localized.
    • Overview of some good WordPress localization plugins
      • Even though the article says “translation”, only some of the plugins support automatic machine translation. What all of them do is to manage localization, whether through machine or human translation.
      • As the author indicates, WPML is the king, but it may be overkill for simple multilingual sites. Moreover, it does not support machine translation.

Are there some useful web development resources that are not mentioned here? Please suggest them in the comments below; if I find them valuable, I’ll add them!

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