If you've browsed to a WordPress site, you've used PHP — it's the engine behind a huge share of the internet. A working knowledge helps you understand hosting, updates and errors. Here's the two-minute version.
PHP in one sentence
PHP is a server-side scripting language: a set of instructions that runs on your web server, behind the scenes, to build pages before they're sent to a visitor's browser.
How it differs from HTML
HTML is static — the browser receives exactly the file stored on the server. PHP is dynamic: the server executes the PHP file, often pulling in data from a database, and produces the HTML the visitor sees. That's how the same PHP file can show different content for every visitor, every time.
| HTML file | sent to browser as-is |
| PHP file | executed on the server first, then sent to the browser as HTML |
What runs on PHP at WebFulHost
- WordPress — and nearly every plugin and theme for it.
- Most PHP sites: WordPress, other CMSs and custom-built applications.
- Contact forms, shops, membership areas and blogs that need to store and serve changing content.
Why you should care
- Performance: newer PHP versions run the same code noticeably faster. See PHP Versions Explained.
- Security: old PHP versions stop receiving security fixes; keeping yours current keeps your site (and everyone on the shared server) safer.
- Errors: most of the scary white screens and 500 errors you'll see are PHP errors — and they're diagnosable. See Common PHP Errors and How to Fix Them.