According to Wikipedia, PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for Web development to produce dynamic Web pages. It is one of the first developed server-side scripting languages to be embedded into an HTML source document rather than calling an external file to process data. The code is interpreted by a Web server with a PHP processor module which generates the resulting Web page. It also has evolved to include a command-line interface capability and can be used in standalone graphical applications.
As a PHP developer or graphic web designer you must certainly be aware and know about the basic tools one requires by which to perform certain web related tasks, especially if you have been in the business for a while. However, most experienced web developers and designers constantly look for the new tools which they can use to make their workflow and web related tasks easier, faster, and better.
Here at STG , we know that you take your code ( development ) seriously, so we have collected a few of the best PHP Tools and Applications to assist you within your work related tasks. We hope you will find them helpful towards your PHP and development related tasks.
If you like the article you might be interested in our other articles on Top PHP Libraries for Developers Handling Excel Word and Power Point Files and 5 Developers Go Libraries for Image Manipulation
1. Dummy : A Smart PHP Toolkit for Generating Filler Images & Content
Dummy, a PHP toolkit, takes this one step further by automatically inserting retina display-optimized images in any size and text in any length/format with few lines of code. Besides paragraphs and titles, it has options for inserting usernames, dates, author names or cities. And, for the images, you can ask it to insert avatars and banners too. The toolkit simply make it possible to test how a layout will behave with images and content in different sizes and amounts.
[button-dark url=”http://dummy.kerns.dk/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
2. jqmPHP : HTML Code Generator for jQuery
jqmPhp is an open source project that aims to simplify using jQuery Mobile with PHP. It is a pack of PHP classes that can generate the HTML outputs which jQuery Mobile is expecting within few lines. The classes are on separate files (with names parallel to the JQM’s features) so you can choose to only use the necessary ones.
[button-dark url=”http://www.jqmphp.com/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
3. Ratchet : Websockets for PHP
Using Ratchet, a WebSockets library for PHP, the connection stays open and both the client + server can push data to each other which is perfect for live-apps.
It consists of multiple components including:
• IoServer (the core to handle the events)
• WsServer (for communicating with W3C WebSocket API)
• SessionProvider (for handling the sessions)
• WampServer (provides the RPC and PubSub patterns)
• FlashPolicy (Flash fallback for unsupported browsers)
• IpBlackList (prevent any IPs from opening connections)
[button-dark url=”http://socketo.me/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
4. ImageWorkShop : Free PHP Image Manipulation Class
ImageWorkshop is an open source and free PHP class for managing and manipulating images. The class has an “image-editing-software-like logic” based on layers which enables superposing many layers or even layer groups (with the option of each layer being manipulated differently).
It has support for many functions like placing an image (or many images) on another one (good for watermarks), cropping, moving, resizing, rotating (with any degrees), superposing, writing and more.
[button-dark url=”http://phpimageworkshop.com/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
5. GitLIst : Open Source Git Repository Viewer with PHP
GitList is an open source PHP application with an elegant interface for enabling anyone to view the repository. It has support for viewing files under different revisions, commit history and diffs. The application uses Twitter Bootstrap for the UI and it is built on top of Silex and the Twig template engine.
[button-dark url=”http://gitlist.org/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
6. Gantti : Gantt Charts with PHP
Gantti is an open source PHP class for generating Gantt charts on-the-fly. The charts created are pure HTML5-CSS3 with no JavaScript involved. The output looks very nice by default but can be customized with ease (with SASS stylesheet). It simply works by defining an array of start/end dates and calling a single function. Also, charts are cross browser (IE7+).
[button-dark url=”http://bastianallgeier.com/gantti/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
7. Auth Manager
It is an open source user management and authentication system built with PHP. AuthManager comes with a ready-to-use registration module where users can register with their e-mails or Facebook accounts, sign-in and get a new password if they forgot it. There is support for reCaptcha to prevent bots and the app provides few lines of code which can be added into any custom PHP file to make it members-only.
[button-dark url=”http://www.stitchapps.com/products/auth-manager” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
8. PHP : The Right Way
“PHP: The Right Way” is a very detailed and free documentation of PHP’s best practices to help anyone write better code. There is no standard way of writing code and the website aims to show the generally accepted practices and alternatives. Also, there are lots of links to authoritative tutorials on the web. It has topics from the setup of PHP to the basics, security, caching and much more.
[button-dark url=”http://www.phptherightway.com/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
9. Detector : Browser & Feature Detection with PHP
Detector is an open source PHP library for detecting many things about the browsing environment of a user. It can get the browser used and browser’s HTML5-CSS3 capabilities, analyze whether it is mobile, tablet, desktop or a spider and other stuff like color depth, viewport dimensions, cookie support, etc. The library can automatically adapt itself to new browsers, versions and devices using the unique user-agent string of each browser. Simply, no need to update a browsers database.
[button-dark url=”http://detector.dmolsen.com/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
10. Gelsheet : Open Source & Web-Based Spreadsheets with PHP
Gelsheet is a free and open source PHP application for creating web-based spreadsheets.
It is born as a module of Feng Office (OpenGoo) and comes in 3 versions; standalone, WP plugin and Feng Office plugin. The application offers a desktop-like interface and capable of handling multiple documents with in-cell formulas, styling of content and exporting them to multiple formats.
[button-dark url=”http://www.gelsheet.org/” target=”_blank” position=”right”] Source [/button-dark]
