Web Development in a Linux Environment
If you’re a web developer, you know that most of your websites are going on servers built with the LAMP architecture. LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, mySQL, and PHP. You can easily install a LAMP server on your own computer for local development. Linux comes with a whole host of tools to help you code your pages, design graphics, and get it all your server, as well.
The first step is to add a LAMP server to your Linux installation. If you don’t already have Linux installed, you can easily dual-boot it on a machine you currently own. It will also run well on a slightly older machine than you may be using now, so it’s fine to put it on that old computer thats been gathering dust since you upgraded. I recommend Ubuntu Linux.
Most Linux distributions come with step-by-step instructions to help you add a LAMP server to your desktop edition of Linux, and that’s what you should do. Install the Desktop edition and add the Lamp server. In Ubuntu this is as easy as typing this command into a terminal:
sudo apt-get install lamp-server^
You’ll be taken through several configuration screens and prompted to input a password for your mySQL server. Make sure this is something you’ll remember! You will probably also want to install PHPmyAdmin, which is a browser-based GUI for your mySQL databases. Type this in Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-auth-mysql phpmyadmin
Installation procedures for these will be similar in most Linux distributions. In Ubuntu Linux your web server files will now be stored in the /var/www directory. Files you put in there will show up when you type http://locahost into your web browser, just as if you were online.
Once your LAMP server is up and running, it’s time to put something up there. If you’re looking for a good basic editor for all kinds of coding and programming, add the Bluefish package to your Linux installation. Bluefish is an excellent utility for quickly writing HTML, CSS, PHP, and many other languages.
If you’re looking for a WYSIWG program, the KompoZer editor is a community built and driven project that aims to provide an easy interface. It also allows direct code editing and a split view between code and graphics.
Graphics work can be done using The GIMP software. GIMP is a powerful graphics editing program that is on par with Photoshop when you’re manipulating images and creating graphics for the web. You will find many tutorials online to help you get any look and feel or effects you’re going for.
Finally, you need to put your web pages online. I recommend you download the Linux build of Filezilla. It works just like the Windows version of Filezilla. It’s and easy to use drag-and-drop interface that will feel familiar to you.
If you work with your web server via SSH, just open a terminal window and tunnel to your server. It couldn’t be easier.
All of these packages make for a robust and effective web development environment. Best of all, it’s open source software with a massive amount of community support and collective intelligence going in to make it well-designed and feature-rich. Developing on a robust Linux machine to upload to your remote LAMP server is a simple and effective process.