Must-Have PHP Scripts
When I started installing PHP scripts, I was surprised by how hard it was to find out what were the top scripts in each category. Each time, it took a lot of research to decide on a script. So here I've made a list of the scripts that seem to be the most popular at what they do. Of course, the list is skewed since it only looks at scripts that do things that I have needed to implement.
If you notice that something is missing, you'd bring me a big smile by letting everyone know by using the comment form at the bottom.
SMF
Forum software. I have put together a page where I aim to compile the best smf tips and tutorials. Many people also like PhpBB (also freeware) and vBulletin (commercial).phpList
Newsletter software. I have put together a page where I aim to compile the best phpList tips, tricks and tutorials.phpMyAdmin
GUI for mySQL. Can't live without it if you're using a script that talks to a database. Packaged with CPanel—otherwise install on your server.Dagon Form Mailer
People used to complain that they had to type the email address I'd placed on my contact page as a jpg. Thanks to this little script, now there's also a form. It has recaptcha, which I love for consistency with my Talkback implementation.The parameters in the script are all over the place, so you may want to make yourself a version that brings everything to the top. In version 5.8, there's a missing <fieldset> tag, and in Firefox it causes the form to display low on the screen. Locate the section that says
foreach ($form_struct as $f_i) {Immediately above it, type
$o .= '<fieldset>';Then, a few lines below, locate the section that says
if ($verify_method == 'recaptcha') {(Watch out, this also appears higher in the file.) Immediately above this, type
$o .= '</fieldset>';Glype
Glype is a proxy script. What's that for? Let's say you are based in the States. You travel abroad. You try to look at one of your favorite sites. Ouch! It's in French! And the prices are in Euro! If you point your browser to your Glype proxy (which you'll have installed on a convenient folder of your website), you will be able to surf the web as though you were in the States, bypassing cumbersome localization because it will look as though you are browsing from your US IP address. Other uses: multiple accounts or more requests on sites that identify you by IP address. Glype is said to be superior to Zelune. I also like PhProxy, no longer supported but still available on sourceforge, and mirrored here in case it disappears.Talkback
Comments script—see it in action at the bottom of this page. I cannot live without talkback!Talkback vs Gentlesource: I find TB easier to integrate into an existing html page than GS, which requires me to rename my files to php or shtml. I have put together a page where I aim to compile the best Talkback comment script tutorials.
Wordpress
The best blogging software. Themes I've noticed: Arthemia (used on Estancia Ranquilco). For this site's blog, I have customized the Wordpress default.Sphider
If you want a search box on your site. Sure, you can let Google do it, but sooner or later you'll get annoyed that Google only indexes your pages every three years. This article compares search engine scripts. I have put together a page where I aim to compile the best Sphider script tutorials.download.php
A download script so that people who don't know how to right-click can just left-click on your download links. Many versions on the internet, linking to one with a good reputation.File Uploader
I do not yet have an upload script that I can endorse. I bought FileChucker for $20. It works, but I do not recommend it if you need to integrate the script for a PHP site. It's a CGI script, and it doesn't integrate well with my PHP. Also, with 4,400 lines in the preferences file, the script is very cumbersome to customize. I haven't yet tried XUpload but might give it a go.EditThisPagePHP
A little script that allow you to create HTML pages that you can fully edit directly in your browser by clicking a button on the page. I have made a page with tips for EditThisPagePHP.(Apart from PHP, there are several javascript solutions that provide WYSIWYG editors for "textarea" components in a page. I have not tried them. Two big names are TinyMCE and CKEditor.)
Online Bookmarks
Awesome. Does what it says. Download from the site or from this mirror, which includes the two add-ons (thumbshots and get-all-favicons.php).After installing, you can import your Firefox bookmarks (export from Firefox to html file, import from Online bookmarks). Then, if you want to try importing all the favicons in one go, run the "get-all-favicons.php" script.
Once you're done installing, you may want to add a "Bookmark This" bookmark in your browser's bookmarks (so that you can quickly add websites to your Online Bookmarks). Confusing? Here is the "address" (actually a script) to paste in the address box of your new "Bookmark This" bookmark in Firefox. Make sure to replace "yourwebsite.com/yourfolder" with the appropriate data!
:javascript:(function(){bmadd=window.open('http://YOURWEBSITE.COM/YOURFOLDER/bookmark_new.php?title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href),'bmadd','toolbar=no, location=no,status=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=500, height=500,left=50,top=50');setTimeout(function(){bmadd.focus();});})();
MediaWiki
Haven't used it yet, but I hear this is the one if you're doing a wiki. Powers Wikipedia and Wikihow.Links
Best PHP Scripts. Well-organized list.Hotscripts. Great source for scripts.
50 PHP tools. Great reference article. But where are apps like SMF and PhpList?
Smiles,
Andy
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