PHP Development Guide

Database Connection

Database connection info should be defined in a single file. A typical place, also the Dreamweaver default, is:

/Connections/conn.php

Functions and Modules

To make the site easy to maintain, we use functions to generate page headers and page footers. Only leave out the content part to each individual page.

For a typical New Circle developed website, all major functions are stored in /php-functions.php.

Global Variables and Constants

Global variables and constants are usually stored in /php-constants.php.

Coding and Naming Standards

Variable Name

Variable name should start with lowercase alphabets.
Single word variable name should all be lowercase.
$cart
Multiple words can be connected by underscore “_”. Ie. $admin_email

Coding

All code should be properly spaced and indented for readability.
Comments should be added when appropriate for functions, etc.
Unused code should be removed promptly to avoid confusion.

Typical folder/file structure

/admin	All site admin pages should be under this directory
/Connections	for DB connection info
/images	images
/inc	for all stylesheets and javascripts
/lib	If you choose to use PHP object, define the file with object name, cap the first letter, and put in this directory. See "Cart.php" for example
/samples	There is a "samples" folder in the downloadable .zip file, mainly for training purpose. Sample of image upload Sample of using Img2thumb.php to resize images Sample use of "Cart.php"

Site Launch Notes

All links leading to outside websites will open in a new browser
All text links will have same look and feel through out the site. It's ok for the footer links to have a lighter color
Text links should have a distinctive visited color so people can tell which links they have not yet clicked on
All images used on the site will have alt tags, for human visitors as well as search engines
Meta tags will be included on all pages, mainly for search engines
Style sheets will be used to control the look and feel of ALL pages, to ensure consistency
Page layout needs to be verified on major browser types and platforms