So you want a killer web site? And you have heard that Apache, PHP and MySQL are highly regarded tools for easily creating a dynamic web site that delivers as fast as it can, and best of all they are all free. If you have no idea where to start or need some help on how to install, configure and tweak these great tools, here is a no-nonsense, hands-on article to guide you before you get lost in manuals. I don't mean the manuals that come with these three applications are bad at all, but they can be overwhelming for beginners. No matter which operating system you use (Windows, or some variant of Unix - e.g. FreeBSD or Linux), I will show you both the basics and tricky bits without getting technical. Here is our really short table of contents. Feel free to skip some parts of this article, but I recommend reading it from beginning to end. After all it doesn't aim to be a bible, so I tried to make it as concise as possible.
This article will step through what you need to do get WAMP (Windows, Apache, mySQL, PHP) running on windows 2000, 98 or XP. (It might work with ME or 95, but I don't promise anything)
In this article we are going to compile PHP as Apache 2 shared module because there is no option, in case of Apache 2, to compile PHP as Apache static module. It was possible with Apache versions prior to version 2.
Since thesitewizard.com uses PHP scripts for various purposes, I find it convenient to have my own copy of PHP on my computer so that I can test my scripts offline, instead of having to test and debug them while connected to my ISP. If you have to pay phone and ISP fees for your Internet connections, you may also find this route a cheaper alternative. You will still have to do some testing online, but at least most of the bugs would have been ironed out by the time you upload the script
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