“a couple of tutorials will not change you to a master over night.”

The same can be said for good web design: it takes a while for someone to master the subtleties of CSS, usability and good site structure.

You can argue as to what a noob to PHP should tackle .. but that would not be the point. I know that a understanding of database driven web design just makes web designers better overall.

Beyond that, web designers will find that their lives will be made much easier with a little PHP knowledge.

… I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen designers frustrated, because they could not make simple changes to a PHP based blog (WordPress) or a CMS (Drupal, Mambo) because even basic PHP concepts were beyond them.

No, at first they may have a hard time developing a web application from scratch .. and that’s cool. But there are sooo many other areas where some PHP skills can come in very handy.

Thanks for the comments,

Stefan

You say that PHP is a more down to earth for a designer, yes sure, but I think that setting up shopping carts or coding something really isn’t something a web designer should do, especially not without the experience, a couple of tutorials will not change you to a master over night.

Remember that with php applications available for hundreds of visitors, of who some might have bad intentions, security is a very great aspect.

Sure encourage them to learn PHP, get more skills but I wouldn’t jump to encouraging them to start coding just of the bat.
Something I believe you should add to your tutorials that is the security aspect.

Please give me another week or two.

BTW: you can catch my articles on PHP in the latest Web Designer Magazine – in the next two issues.

Regards

Karl

(UK)