Dynamic Web Design Made Easy —that’s a pretty bold claim. How easy is easy? It’s not like an instant cake mix: just add water and stir. Dynamic web design is—well— dynamic. Every website is different, so it’s impossible to grab a script, paste it into a web page, and expect it to work. Building dynamic sites involves diving into the code and adjust- ing it to your own requirements. If that thought makes you break out in a cold sweat, just relax for a moment. PHP is not difficult, and I’ve written this book very much with the non- programmer in mind. I’ve done so because I don’t come from a computing background myself. In fact, I went to school in the days before pocket calculators were invented, never mind personal computers. As a result, I don’t assume that you drank in knowledge of arrays, loops, and conditional statements with your mother’s milk. Everything is explained in plain, straightforward lan- guage, and I’ve highlighted points where things may go wrong, with advice on how to solve the problem. At the same time, if you’re working with computers and websites, you’re bound to have a certain level of technical knowledge and skill. So I don’t talk down to you either. Some of the things you’ll learn by working through this book include the following: - Displaying random images of different sizes - Uploading images and automatically making copies that conform to a maximum size - Creating an online photo gallery - Building a navigation system to page through a long set of database results - Displaying a summary of a long article and linking to the full text - Protecting parts of your site with user authentication You'll also learn hot to process user input from every type of form element--text fields, drop-down menus, check boxes, and so forth. Most important of all, you’ll see how a few simple checks can guard your websites and databases from malicious attack. In this book, I’ve followed the same technique that has proved successful in Foundation PHP 5 for Flash and Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8 . Each chapter takes you through a series of stages in a single project, with each stage building on the previous one. By working through the chapter, you get the full picture of how everything fits together. You can later refer back to the individual stages to refresh your memory about a particular technique. Although this isn’t a reference book, Chapter 3 is a primer on PHP syntax, and some chapters contain short reference sections—notably Chapter 7 (reading from and writing to files), Chapter 9 (PHP sessions), Chapter 11 (MySQL data types and connection commands), and Chapter 13 (the four essential SQL commands). So, to return to the original question: how easy is easy? I have done my best to ease your path, but there is no snake oil or magic potion. It will require some effort on your part. Don’t attempt to do everything at once. Add new dynamic features to your site a few at a time. Get to understand how they work, and your efforts will be amply rewarded. Adding PHP and MySQL to your skills will enable you to build websites that offer much richer content and an interactive user experience.

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