Create Dynamic Web Pages using PHP

PHP is not a new name in the world of web development but one that has been used for ages. That’s why there is no surprise in calling it the most popular server-side scripting language.

While most beginner developers think PHP can only be used for website development, there are many more applications of PHP technology in web development. One such widely used practice is creating dynamic web pages that are adaptive and easily modified based on user input, queries, database, and other factors.

PHP can also be used to create interactive and complex web apps using external files, email, PHP eCommerce functions, and date & time functions. In this tutorial, we will demonstrate the process of creating dynamic web pages using PHP.

We will also look at some of the standard features and functionalities that you can implement, such as PHP database connection, PHP database queries, PHP loops and conditional statements, PHP sessions and cookies, forms and user input validation, security, and more. So, let’s get started!

What are PHP Dynamic Web Pages and Why Use Them?

PHP dynamic web pages are generally generated using the PHP code and can be run on the web server before going live on the browser. The PHP code can output the content in HTML, and modify or manipulate it based on user input, PHP database queries, and other logic to make it PHP dynamic content.

This way, the web page can easily adapt according to the different conditions and scenarios, making it more personalized, interactive, and user-friendly. Below are some of the benefits of using PHP to create dynamic web pages:

Customization

Using PHP CMS, you can modify and customize the page content and layout based on your user’s choice, behavior, and actions. For instance, you can show different content, images, and menus to users based on their preferences.

Personalization

You can personalize the PHP dynamic content and experience based on the user’s profile, history, or behavior. For instance, you can show the user relevant recommendations, promotion offers, or ads based on their previous purchase patterns, searches, or clicks.

Automation

Dynamic web pages also allow you to automate the page content and functionalities based on time, date, or events. For instance, you can easily update the PHP dynamic content automatically based on the latest data from a database, showing the current date and time, or trigger certain actions based on a timer or a schedule.

Integration

In dynamic web pages, it is easy to integrate them with external services, sources, or APIs. For instance, you can fetch the data from third-party API and display it on your site. This includes weather reports, news, social media handles, etc.

How to Use PHP to Create Dynamic Web Pages?

To start creating dynamic web pages with PHP, you need a few things:

• A web server that can run PHP, such as Apache or IIS. You can install them on your own computer or use a web hosting service that provides them.
• A text editor that can write PHP code, such as Notepad, Sublime Text, or Visual Studio Code. You can use any editor that you like, as long as it can save your files as plain text.
• A way to save your PHP files with the .php extension and upload them to your web server. You can use a file transfer protocol (FTP) client, such as FileZilla, or a web development tool, such as Dreamweaver, to do this.

Once you have these things ready, you can follow these common steps to create dynamic web pages with PHP:

• Write your PHP code inside the <?php and ?> tags in your HTML document. These tags tell the web server where your PHP code starts and ends.
• Use the echo or print statements to output HTML content from your PHP code. These statements send the HTML content to the browser, where it can be displayed.
• Use variables, arrays, and operators to store and manipulate data in your PHP code.
• Use loops and conditional statements, and functions to control the flow and logic of your PHP code.
• Use the $_GET or $_POST arrays to retrieve user input from forms or URLs. These arrays are like special variables that can store the data that the user enters or clicks on a web page, such as their name, email, or password.
• Use the include or require statements to insert external PHP files into your current file.
• Use the mail function to send email from your PHP code.
• Use the date function to format and display the current date and time or any other date and time values.

How To Create Dynamic Web Pages With PHP?

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create dynamic pages with PHP.

Step 1: Create Files

To start with, we need to create some separate pages for our website. The first page we need is index.php, which will be our main page. So, create a new file and name it index.php. Then, we need to add some HTML code to the file.

<html>

<head>

<title>My PHP Site</title>

</head>

<body>

<h1>Welcome to my PHP Site.</h1>

 <ul>

 <li>Products</li>

 <li>Blog</li>

 <li>About Us</li>

</ul>

</body>

</html>

Other Pages:

We have finished our main page, but we also want to have some other pages for our website. So, let’s create three more files and name them products.php, blog.php, and about.php. We don’t need to repeat all the HTML tags in these files. We just need to write the content that we want to display on the website. For example, for the product page, we can write the following lines in the file.

<?php

echo "<h2>Products</h2>";

echo "This is our product page.<br/>";

echo "You should be able to see all of our products here.";

?>

Step 2: Making Pages Dynamic

Now that we have our main page and our other pages ready, we want to make them dynamic. We want to be able to switch between different pages by changing the URL.

To do that, we will use the GET variable to capture the value from the URL and store it in another variable. Then we will use that variable to display the content from the corresponding page on our main page.

To make this work, we need to add this PHP code at the beginning of our main page:

<?php

 if(isset($_GET['page'])){

 $page = $_GET['page'];

 }

 else

 $page = NULL;

 ?>

In this code, we have used the GET method to get the value of the page parameter from the URL. If the page parameter is present, we have stored its value in the page variable. Otherwise, we have assigned NULL to the page variable.

Next, we need to insert some code in our main page where we want to display the content of other pages. We want to show the content of other pages below our navigation menu, so we put this code after the closing tag of ul.

<?php

 if(empty($page)){

 echo "This is our main page.";

 }

 else

 include($page);

 ?>

Changing Links:

After setting the main page, let’s change the link in the main page. Here’s how you can make the necessary changes:

<ul>

 <li><a href="index.php?page=products.php">Products</a></li>

 <li><a href="index.php?page=blog.php">Blog</a></li>

 <li><a href="index.php?page=about.php">About</a></li>

 </ul>

This code shows that all these pages are linked to the index.php file, but what we are interested in is the part that comes after the index.php file. After that?, we are using a variable or a reference name called ‘page’, which can be any name you choose, but you will have to modify the GET variable accordingly. We are setting the page to be equal to our desired page.

Step 3: Improving Links

You can further improve your code by making some changes and making your link look better than index.php?page=about.php. To do this, you need to add a line right after where you are setting the page variable to the value of the GET parameter in the index page.

<?php

 if(isset($_GET['page'])){

 $page = $_GET['page'];

 $page .= '.php';  //Add this line here and you are all set.

 }

 else

 $page = NULL;

 ?>

Now, remove the .php extension from the links to make them: 

<ul>

 <li><a href="index.php?page=products">Products</a></li>

 <li><a href="index.php?page=blog">Blog</a></li>

 <li><a href="index.php?page=about">About</a></li>

 </ul>

You will notice that when you visit any of these links, they will not display .php and your link will appear more dynamic like index.php?page=about.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned the process of creating dynamic web pages using PHP. Alongside this, we also explained the benefits of creating dynamic web pages. Hope you have understood the process. We wish you luck with your first web page development project.