User:Banzaimonkey/ToDo

For PHP Programming Wikibook

• Copy this page and adapt it to the wikibook on PHP. To insert it into a page, use double curly braces, template name, double closing curly braces. See this page for an example.

• Add a page explaining the difference between PHP output and Rendered HTML. Include example code, PHP output, and HTML output.

• Add exercises for various pages. Pose exercises as "challenges", include target output (in rendered HTML, PHP output, or both) and include solutions on a different page, with comments and explanation.

• Add short explanation of functions, statements, passing of data, returns, etc., along with syntax examples and diagrams (Where does the data go? What happens to it?).

For Lesson Index

Add a separate index for each of the different sections to keep the size of each index relatively small. I.e. one section for Advanced, one for Begginner, one for Intermediate, etc...

For Hello World

These links discuss the difference between single quotes and double quotes. Add language to the page above to explain what the difference is between single and double quotes. Explain explicitly what works with single quotes, what works with double quotes, and what does not work with each. Analyze and add examples of situations in which it's best to use single quotes or double quotes.

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php - PHP manual

http://www.jeroenmulder.com/weblog/2005/04/php_single_and_double_quotes.php - Good explanation of double quotes.

http://www.weberdev.com/PrintExample.php?count=3750&mode=color - Good explanation of single quotes.

Plan and Organize Lessons

The lessons in the wikibook need a solid layout. This should follow some form like:

• Introduction - A section explainin what will be covered in this lesson.
• Explanation - A section explaining the content of the lesson, definining vocabulary, short segments of explanatary code, etc.
• Examples - A section with detailed, commented examples of PHP code, showing PHP output and rendered HTML (if applicable).
• Lesson Overview - A section highlighting the key vocabulary terms that are introduced in each section. Should also include a few excerpts from the "Explanation" section. Ideally, this section could be printed for use as a study guide. (Perhaps this section could be detached so it could be printed separately).
• Links to Exercises and Solutions - A short section with a link to the exercises for the current lesson, as well as the solutions for the current lesson.
• Resources - Further reading, also links to source information.

Update: Assign Crystal Clear icons to these page elements.

Introduction

The PHP book needs an introduction explaining the nuances of the wikibook, as well as notifying contributors about specific policy (such as the lesson outline, above). This will help readers understand the significance of the way the information is presented, etc.

Clean up the Talk Page

The talk page should be cleaned up and reorganized a bit. Maybe for a boring Saturday afternoon...

Whatever I was Working on Yesterday

I was working on something yesterday and it got deleted. I don't remember what it was.

I was adding something to the PHP talk page and Firefox got closed. I'll see if I can figure out the specifics later. I think it had something to do with the Index template I was working on. *shrugs*

Add Contributors' Page

Add a page with an outline for contributors to follow regarding formatting, commenting, areas that need work, etc. Perhaps this could instead go on the main page once the rest of the pages are separated and the ToC is merged into a template. If this is redundant it's because it's 0215.

Things to add:

• Formatting
• Color scheme
• Inline citations
• Lesson layout
• Exercises / Solutions

Top-Level Navigation Bar

For the top of each page, there should be a navigation bar which, among other things:

• Links to the main PHP page
• Links to the main page in each section (Introduction, Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, etc.)
• Shows the elephpant =)
• Includes the category tag "PHP"

Color Scheme

Come up with a google-esque color scheme to organize things on a page. For example, navigation could be in blue, code in green, comments in yellow, and hints/tips in red. This makes things bright and easy to read.

Structure

start div

<?php

pre formatting and code sample here

?>

end div

start div

PHP Output:

pre formatting and PHP output here

end div

start div

HTML Render:

pre formatting and HTML render here (if applicable)

end div

Finalize the Colors

Choose colors. PHP Code section should be in blue. Beyond that, it would makes sense to use green for PHP output and Yellow for HTML render. But I like green and I'd rather use it elsewhere.

Red will be reserved for hints or tips.

Copy Userbox Code

Copy the code from the userboxes that allows the user to insert their own text in the middle of a wiki include. This will allow contributors to use simply include code to add the colored divisions and then add their code sample or hint text.

If this doesn't work, we'll need to do some serious tweaking. Div code isn't very good because it cancels the preset wiki formatting inside it and changes the formatting to HTML style (whitespace is ignored). In order to change this, we'll likely need to use wiki table code with a colored border and background instead of div. Also, try not to get too bogged down in the details. This is supposed to increase readability and make the wikibook easier to use, not cause a nightmare for me. -_-

Example Implementation

PHP Code

<?php
  $variable = 5;
  $variable += 3;
  echo $variable;
?>