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PHP

Posted by Alireza Tahmasbi
Alireza Tahmasbi
308 Points

How much HTML and CSS should a PHP developer know?

I do not think I have the artistic side to be a successful front end developer, so I am thinking to focus more on PHP. I was wondering how much CSS and HTML would a PHP developer need? I know most of the HTML tags. I know how to change color, background and fonts with CSS, but I can not make a good looking web page lol... Can I still be a successful PHP developer without being able to create a good looking page? How often do PHP developers need to use HTML and CSS?

3 Answers

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,148 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,148 Points

You should have a fair amount of the knowledge of HTML and CSS and all it's properties. I'd image in PHP you'll find yourself returning HTML markup and so you'll need to know enough about both to return clean semantic markup with appropriate CSS classes.

That's different than understanding color theory, type, etc.

Michael Hulet
Michael Hulet
47,912 Points
Michael Hulet
Michael Hulet
47,912 Points

While you don't need to know much about how its designed, you should definitely be able to implement a very good looking website. This generally requires a proficient understanding of HTML, CSS, and usually JavaScript (though that's not as necessary). PHP is, in fact, designed as a language to template HTML. When you're writing PHP, you're usually writing HTML, too. From the skills you described, I think you'll make a great PHP developer :)

bleedcmyk
bleedcmyk
5,945 Points
bleedcmyk
bleedcmyk
5,945 Points

I agree completely with Kevin. While you might not need to be able to design a website, you definitely should have a solid understanding of both CSS and HTML, and probably be able to recreate a graphic designers mockup in front-end html/css.