Did you know that your css code could be slowing down your website? Did you also know that there is a free solution out there that can help you optimize or reformat your css code for speed and readability? This article is going to explain the benefits of optimizing your css code and the reasons why all web designers should be doing it. First we need to take into account the 2 reasons why you would want to reformat your css: readability and optimization.

Readability

Having nicely formatted css that easily readable is very helpful when you are developing a site. Most of us (me included) can get pretty sloppy when in a hurry to develop code, and a formatter can really help out to make it more readable.

On development teams where both Macs and PCs are used, sometimes line breaks are not read correctly across platforms and your css can end up all on one line. A formatter can help get your code looking pretty again.

Optimization

The opposite of readability is optimization. One problem with CSS is that it can get pretty file-size heavy when designing with it - especially on complex layouts. Optimizing your CSS will strip out all unnecessary characters and leave your CSS lean and mean.

Optimizing css is great to do once you've finished your site and don't plan to work on the design very much anymore.

The css formatter is a great tool because it can do both! You can format for readability while you are designing, optimize when you go live, and reformat it for readability if you ever need to work on it again. It's really a 'win win' thing to do.

What Is PHP?

The full form of PHP is Hypertext PreProcessor and is a server-side scripting language. The PHP code can be combined with regular HTML tags and parsed on the server. The creator of PHP, Rasmus Lerdorf first displayed the language in the form of a Perl script . In 1997 it was adapted by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski to use a C-written compiler. They completely reconstructed the original PHP into the web language that we know and use today.

Uses of PHP

It is used in the creation of dynamic web pages. Web developers like it because of its fast parsing and flexibility and versatility. PHP is a popular tool for managing a form's data after it is submitted and comes built in with many different interfaces and API's. It has database capability built into the language, the most common database being MySQL. Typically the PHP can connect to any SQL enabled database.

The Syntax of PHP is similar in structure to Perl and C where curly braces { } define blocks of code and semi-colons specify the end of a statement PHP is as easy to learn as Perl. It maintains all the traditional loops, if/else, and subroutines that are expected in a programming language. One difference between the two is that the code'?' is embedded in with the HTML; you could however, use a separate file. The PHP code is different from HTML code by use of the opening and closing tags. When it finds a PHP file, it tells the server to scan through for these tags, and execute the code in between them. The server recognizes a PHP enabled file by its extension, .php. These are essentially HTML files with PHP codes in them.

Getting Started

To start PHP requires a server with PHP installed and a simple ASCII text editor such as Notepad or VI, eMacs, Kate, etc. for a UNIX/Linux machine.

What are the problems faced by PHP?

It is case sensitive. For example if you name a variable $MyVar, you cannot call it as $myvar or $mYvAr. In case you forget to close your curly brackets, then it helps to indent lines inside the curly braces so that any missing braces can be spotted easily.

So you're considering building a website and you may be feeling a little overwhelmed by it all. While this can easily happen it is wise to whip out some note paper and write down exactly what you want to achieve and what steps you need to take in order to get there.

So the first thing you are going to need to do is put the foundation in place. This will require extensive research. Now contrary to popular opinion I start this process a little bit differently than what is generally advised.

Now while we all know that you need to find a hungry market doing this can be a little more difficult than explained in actual fact that is just like everything else when it comes to doing anything online.

Actuality can be quite different from theory. So what I do is visit the article directories. I punch in a keyword that I am interested in and see what articles come up relative to that. Then I check the articles out to see how many page views they have received over a given period of time.

If an article receives a lot of page views then I know that there are a number of people looking for information relative to this subject. I also know that if I write an article on this topic that it will receive a lot of page views and as a result get a lot of click throughs to my site which will help me get traffic quickly without having to worry about what Google and everyone else does.

Next I visit the forums to see what solutions are being discussed then I go back to the articles and check what the writers are promoting and see if it is a valid good product to help people achieve the goals they desire. If so then I make note of it. Now I feel a little more confident about building a site around this theme.

The next thing you have to consider is the domain. A keyword in the domain is helpful but not essential. Your next quest is hosting. You need a good host as this is your life line.

Finally you want to be able to build the site effectively so as to achieve good search engine rankings. Keyword research relative to your overall theme will help you to do this plus you need to structure the pages properly so that you site can be understood by the search engines.

Do not worry if you lack technical knowledge as there are site builders out there to help you overcome this challenge.

Select any of the following links to watch some free videos.