In just two years, Magento has become a significant player in the world of ecommerce software, but its theming system can be difficult for beginners to come to terms with. Nick walks us through the basics of customizing a Magento theme.

It's great that one-click WordPress installs are available with many shared hosting providers, but what if you want a more finely tuned, optimized setup? Kirk shows us how to fire up WordPress on a VPS running nginx with PHP-FPM.

It's great that one-click WordPress installs are available with many shared hosting providers, but what if you want a more finely tuned, optimized setup? Kirk shows us how to fire up WordPress on a VPS running nginx with PHP-FPM.

Are you in control of your database or is it driving you mad? Craig lists the top 10 MySQL mistakes he's made when developing PHP applications.

Are you in control of your database or is it driving you mad? Craig lists the top 10 MySQL mistakes he's made when developing PHP applications.

Sortcodes allow article authors to run custom functions within WordPress. Craig provides a quick implementation tutorial.

Sortcodes allow article authors to run custom functions within WordPress. Craig provides a quick implementation tutorial.

Craig describes a one-line PHP buffer flushing technique which could help your page download speeds.

Craig describes a one-line PHP buffer flushing technique which could help your page download speeds.

phpMyAdmin is a fully featured, web-based MySQL tool, but it's overkill for the majority of day-to-day administration tasks. Craig reveals three free, lightweight alternatives.

phpMyAdmin is a fully featured, web-based MySQL tool, but it's overkill for the majority of day-to-day administration tasks. Craig reveals three free, lightweight alternatives.

The closing ?> tag is optional in PHP-only files. Some developers omit it and some think it's poor practice not to include it. Craig examines the debate and the suggestions it raised.

The closing ?> tag is optional in PHP-only files. Some developers omit it and some think it's poor practice not to include it. Craig examines the debate and the suggestions it raised.

Joining strings is essential in any server-side web application. Craig discusses the fastest concatenation methods available in PHP.

Joining strings is essential in any server-side web application. Craig discusses the fastest concatenation methods available in PHP.