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I first became aware of HTML in 1995. Since then
I've always had an interest in the Internet and website design/programming.
Although I picked up a few additional things along the way my skills were never
really challenged until 2000 when I started on a large scale project to develop
the site Seniority.co.uk with Michael Cheney.
Previously I had just been using HTML and Javascript for what were more or
less static website's which rather time consuming to maintain for any site
over about 3 or 4 pages in size. At the time It was clear this was not going
to be enough as the site demanded dynamic content and a level of interactivity
which could not be achieved using simple html and javascript. This is where PHP came
in...
Why PHP?
At the time, I had three main choices for scripting languages:
Active Server Pages (ASP)
Java Server Pages (JSP)
Hypertext Pre-Processor (PHP)
Coming form a mainly Java programming background made both JSP and PHP look
most favourable as the syntax if very similar to what I was used to. But this
was no reason not to learn ASP as I was going to have to learn PHP/JSP anyway.
The main reason for not selecting ASP was because it is considered a Microsoft
only language. Which means it can only really be used (not exclusively) on
a Windows Microsoft server, whereas PHP and JSP could be run on just about
any platform, particularly Linux/Apache set-up's.
The decision between JSP and PHP was tough. However in the end I decided
PHP was the better choice because it was more widespread. Also JSP was
still in the early stages of development and there were a few reports regarding
problems/bugs with JSP. Adding to this the server which was planned for the
Seniority.co.uk project did not have JSP support. So that more or less clinched
the decision.
Since teaching myself PHP five years ago I have used
PHP in so many website's that I can develop just about any solution to any
problem where PHP would be suitable. I am often asked to develop smaller
snippets of code to add extra functionality to sites and I am happy to say "Yes
I can do that!". I have also
created my own base model for website design which is scalable to any size
of website. A simple formula of PHP code means that I can put together any
site of any size quickly and efficiently and design it around any graphics
template without loosing any functionality and leaving the door open for further
development on the platform! This base model has been used on many sites now
and has never once let me down! It seems that every time the model is implemented
there is at least one improvement made to make it even easier to implement
and maintain a website.
My web development (or what I like to call web programming) skills
and experience were also used in connection with a web marketing company called magnet4web who are
based in Aberdeen, Scotland and provide all sorts of marketing help to ensure
your site is successful! Below you will find a collection of some of the sites
which I have developed/been involved with. Select a website to read more about
what was involved:
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