php newbie

[kimbecker1]

I need some help ... please!

I just a bought a new website and it uses php.

The former owner has told me that I can't use frontpage to make changes to the site. I am pretty good with code but like to be able to have a preview of my pages when I am editing etc.

Can anyone recommend software to use to edit my site that is php friendly?

Right now I am using a trial version of EditPlus2.

It is okay but I can preview :)

Humiliated by hooked on WYSIWYG.

[Easywebdev]

Hi Kim.

Any text editor can edit php files but as php is a server side scripting language I'm afraid you cannot view the output.

There are two options available.
1. Upload your edited files to a webserver and view them in your browser.
2. Setup a webserver on you own computer.

Option 2 is not as hard as it may sound, there are a few packages that will setup the apache webserver with php perl and mysql already configured and ready to go.

If you want to try that then go to http://www.firepages.com.au/ and select the phpdev4 package.

Hope that helps.

[php~pro]

Dreamweaver MX2004 has a live preview that will work with php code. Whilst it will not reproduce the colors correctly it gives a good graphical represention of what the output will look like. You can then flick between design and code view and make any necessary changes.

[statistic]

Dreamweaver is the man for you it works just as you want it to.