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PHP VS HTML5

Compare PHP VS HTML5 and see what are their differences

PHP logo PHP

A popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development

HTML5 logo HTML5

5th major revision of the core language of the World Wide Web
  • PHP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-21

We recommend LibHunt PHP for discovery and comparisons of trending PHP projects.

  • HTML5 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-20

PHP features and specs

  • Cost-Effective
    PHP is an open-source language, meaning it is free to use. This helps reduce the overall cost of a project.
  • Large Community
    PHP has a large and active community. This means vast amounts of documentation, tutorials, and third-party resources are available.
  • Cross-Platform
    PHP is platform-independent and can run on various operating systems like Windows, Linux, and macOS.
  • Database Support
    PHP supports a wide range of databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and more.
  • Speed
    PHP is generally fast, especially when used with built-in tools and extensions. It integrates easily with web servers like Apache.
  • Built-in Functions
    PHP comes with a vast range of built-in functions and libraries, which makes developing common functionalities easier and faster.
  • Server-Side Scripting
    PHP is designed specifically for server-side scripting, making it well-suited for web development.

Possible disadvantages of PHP

  • Security
    If not properly managed, PHP applications can be vulnerable to security threats like SQL injection, XSS, and others.
  • Inconsistency
    PHP's function naming and parameter ordering can be inconsistent, which can make the language difficult to learn and use efficiently.
  • Performance
    While fast for many tasks, PHP can struggle with performance for high-resource applications compared to other languages like Node.js or Python.
  • Error Handling
    Error handling in PHP is less efficient and more cumbersome compared to modern languages like Python or JavaScript.
  • Concurrency
    PHP lacks native support for multi-threading, which can be a limitation for applications requiring high concurrency.
  • Old Codebases
    Many older PHP applications use outdated coding practices, making maintaining and updating them more difficult and costly.
  • Type System
    PHP historically had a weak typing system, though recent versions have introduced better type support, it's still a drawback for older codebases.

HTML5 features and specs

  • Improved Multimedia Support
    HTML5 provides built-in support for video and audio tags, eliminating the need for third-party plugins like Flash. This makes it easier to integrate multimedia content and improves compatibility across different devices.
  • Semantic Elements
    HTML5 introduces semantic elements like <header>, <footer>, <article>, and <section> which help define the structure of a web page more clearly, enhancing SEO and accessibility.
  • Mobile-Friendly
    HTML5 is designed with mobile devices in mind, ensuring responsive design and better performance on smartphones and tablets. Features like geolocation APIs enhance mobile web applications.
  • Canvas and SVG Support
    HTML5 includes support for the <canvas> element and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), allowing for dynamic and interactive graphics rendering without needing additional plugins.
  • Improved Accessibility
    With more descriptive tags and attributes, HTML5 helps create websites that are more accessible to users with disabilities, enhancing the overall user experience.

Possible disadvantages of HTML5

  • Browser Compatibility Issues
    Not all browsers fully support every feature of HTML5, which can lead to inconsistencies and require additional coding to ensure cross-browser compatibility.
  • Security Concerns
    New features such as local storage and APIs can introduce security vulnerabilities if not implemented correctly, making careful consideration and validation necessary.
  • Complexity in Migration
    Migrating existing websites to HTML5 may require significant changes in code and structure, which can be time-consuming and complex for developers.
  • Performance Overhead
    While HTML5 offers many features, some can lead to performance overhead if not properly optimized, especially on older devices or resources with limited processing power.
  • Limited Legacy Support
    Older versions of Internet Explorer and other legacy browsers do not support many of the new HTML5 features, which limits the audience that can be reached without fallback strategies.

Analysis of PHP

Overall verdict

  • PHP is a solid choice for web development, especially if you are working with server-side tasks. While it may not be as modern as some newer languages or frameworks, it is still reliable, widely supported, and serves as the backbone for many popular content management systems like WordPress.

Why this product is good

  • Simplicity
    PHP is known for its simplicity and ease of learning, making it accessible for beginners.
  • Performance
    With the release of PHP 7 and later versions, significant performance improvements have been made.
  • Community support
    It has extensive community support and a vast array of libraries and frameworks.
  • Hosting compatibility
    PHP is compatible with most web hosting services, offering a seamless deployment experience.

Recommended for

  • Beginners looking to get into web development
  • Developers building or maintaining traditional server-side web applications
  • Projects requiring wide hosting service compatibility
  • Existing projects using CMS like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal

PHP videos

Is PHP a SCAM? Watch this VIDEO Before You Join!

More videos:

  • Review - For PHP Agents - Advice On Making The Most Of Your Insurance Sales Career

HTML5 videos

Learn HTML5 in 15 minutes!

More videos:

  • Review - Course Review: Build Responsive Real World Websites with HTML5
  • Review - Dev Ed Course Review - Learn HTML5 and CSS3 for Beginners Crash Course

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PHP and HTML5)
Programming Language
78 78%
22% 22
OOP
77 77%
23% 23
Generic Programming Language
Languages
56 56%
44% 44

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare PHP and HTML5

PHP Reviews

Top 10 Rust Alternatives
PHP is another general purpose-based computing language. This language is mostly found in HTML. It is usually used for the management of content that is based on dynamic information.
Top 20 Javascript Libraries
As the name suggests, JsPHP is a Javascript library for PHP API to be available in the JS environment. It is open-source and provides a compelling interface for JS developers who work in PHP. JsPHP can work in tandem with other libraries in an application. JsPHP supports PHP functions, including regular expressions, date-time evaluations, JSON, error handling, object...
Source: hackr.io
The 10 Best Programming Languages to Learn Today
What kind of development projects do you want to work on? If career flexibility is a priority, learning Python or C++ will allow you to work across different types of programming. If your passion is web development, learning JavaScript or PHP is a smart choice.
Source: ict.gov.ge

HTML5 Reviews

20 Best Front-End Frameworks For Bootstrap Alternative
Just like its name, HTML5 Boilerplate provides you HTML5 ready template that has been optimized to meet the most standard of HTML new features. By using this template, you can create a fast, robust and responsive site that is able to adapt to any kind of browser, even the old ones like Internet Explorer.
Source: beebom.com
8 Bootstrap Alternatives
I found http://www.builtwithhtml5boilerplate.com/ good for examples of HTML5 Boilerplate sites and http://www.builtwithbootstrap.com/ good for Bootstrap. But can’t really find any good compilations of foundation or zimit? Anyone?
Source: modernweb.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PHP seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 54 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

PHP mentions (54)

  • The Lost Art of Reading Documentation
    I remember being 15 (18 years ago 🥲) and learning PHP. Stack Overflow wasn’t as big yet, and finding answers often meant digging through forums filled with half-baked solutions, each dependent on specific hosting configurations. There was no universal standard, some hosts supported certain php.ini settings while others didn’t. The only reliable resource? The official PHP documentation: php.net. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Using named arguments in php8 and up
    That's the first I've heard of it, and I like it! I can't tell you the number of trips to php.net to look at argument order for a function. Is it haystack/needle, or needle/haystack? Of course it could turn into the same thing w/ argument names (is it whole_name or full_name?), but I'm going to use it. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to display results from multiple SQL queries in the same table cell?
    Prepare to spend a fair bit of time reading and going back to phptherightway.com and php.net. I've also found this Tutorial from Envato Tuts+ to be quite good. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Beginner searching for set up resources
    All I want to do with php is to have a recurring navbar on a website. I don't know what to do next. So far I've tried php.net's manual, w3scchool's tutorial and the set up part of first five recommended php tutorials on youtube. I have also spent hours on stackoverflow, which got me even more confused. The more I read, the less nothing makes sense to me and I don't know where the problem is. Source: about 2 years ago
  • date_format crashing on NULL values after upgrade to PHP 8.x
    I tried looking at the upgrade from 7.4 to 8.0 docs on php.net but I don't see anything regarding any changes to this function. Any ideas? Source: about 2 years ago
View more

HTML5 mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of HTML5 yet. Tracking of HTML5 recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PHP and HTML5, you can also consider the following products

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

JavaScript - Lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions

Java - A concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible

Ruby - A dynamic, interpreted, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity

Rust - A safe, concurrent, practical language

Lua - Powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting language