Robin Nixon has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s (his first computer was a Tandy TRS 80 Model 1 with a massive 4KB of RAM!). One of the web sites he developed presented the world's first radio station licensed by the music copyright holders. In order to enable people to continue to surf while listening, Robin also developed the first known pop-up windows. He has also worked full time for one of Britain's main IT magazine publishers, where he held several roles including editorial, promotions, and cover disc editing.

Build interactive, data-driven websites with the potent combination of open source technologies and web standards, even if you have only basic HTML knowledge. In this update to this popular hands-on guide, you’ll tackle dynamic web programming with the latest versions of today’s core technologies: PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, and key jQuery libraries.

Web designers will learn how to use these technologies together and pick up valuable web programming practices along the way—including how to optimize websites for mobile devices. At the end of the book, you’ll put everything together to build a fully functional social networking site suitable for both desktop and mobile browsers.

Explore MySQL, from database structure to complex queries

Use the MySQLi extension, PHP’s improved MySQL interface

Create dynamic PHP web pages that tailor themselves to the user

Manage cookies and sessions and maintain a high level of security

Enhance the JavaScript language with jQuery and jQuery mobile libraries

Use Ajax calls for background browser-server communication

Style your web pages by acquiring CSS2 and CSS3 skills

Implement HTML5 features, including geolocation, audio, video, and the canvas element

Reformat your websites into mobile web apps