Can a PHP website be edited by myself?

[mystique]

Hi there

I recently used a freelance web designer to design my website and i specified that i need to do the content management myself. However, he created the website using php and after i paid him and all, he says that it is impossible for me to change any text in the website myself without programming knowledge.
He also says that the only way i can change the text is to go through him.

I'm not familiar with any programming language, so i don't know if that's true. I do however, have access to the admin portion of the website which i can add / delete product pictures. does this mean i can actually edit text? Can anyone help?

[mikeandike22]

Well you will probably want to change the dynamic setup (i.e pages people interact with and the part that php is used for) of your site so learning php would not be a bad idea. But im pretty sure the main bulk of your content should be in html. You should be able to find the content and change it. You can edit php files in notepad and then just save them as .php files.
I would say that next time though i would get a guy who is not a jacka$$ and will write it something a little easier like html.

[Killer_Typo]

seriously if he says you have to go through him. your done with him now. now hes gone overboard. you asked him to design it not webmaster it. Just as long as you have access to the server itself you can make all the changes you want, and im pretty sure any questions you may have will be answered here. Its not hard at all to change how your site would look. it would just take a good enough understanding of PHP. now if he wrote sloppy code.. thats another thing.

[cws82us]

you can add to it but you can not edited only what one you have made.

[netchicken]

Certianly you can add to it and edit it... IF you know the language.

Post a link so we can see...

[phpcommunity]

If he has encrypted the php pages, then it would not be possible to edit them. Make sure you have the complete source code before saying bye! to the programmer :)

[mystique]

seriously if he says you have to go through him. your done with him now. now hes gone overboard. you asked him to design it not webmaster it. Just as long as you have access to the server itself you can make all the changes you want, and im pretty sure any questions you may have will be answered here. Its not hard at all to change how your site would look. it would just take a good enough understanding of PHP. now if he wrote sloppy code.. thats another thing.

Thanks for your reply. the server is managed by his friend, does this mean i really have no editing power? he did give me an admin password to the website which is run by oscommerce which i can use to edit product pictures,etc do you think i can edit home page text here or is it in a different area?

he did not give me the codes or anything else besides just the website. What should i ask from him if i want to drop him complete?

[mystique]

Well you will probably want to change the dynamic setup (i.e pages people interact with and the part that php is used for) of your site so learning php would not be a bad idea. But im pretty sure the main bulk of your content should be in html. You should be able to find the content and change it. You can edit php files in notepad and then just save them as .php files.
I would say that next time though i would get a guy who is not a jacka$$ and will write it something a little easier like html.

Thanks for your reply. i really dunno what the bulk of the website is on. you mentioned that i can edit php files in notepad. does that mean i do not need any other software, just the notepad? what must i type in to be able to access and make changes?

[Ottoman]

Ah!!!! people who get their work done from others always come across with such kind of situations.I have been working with PHP and Java for last 10 years.i never did that in my past ..nor intend to do that in future.

[daren]

Not sure if it's of any help anymroe but if you have access to the server, then if you know how to ftp, you need a file from the language folder. located in
(/shop/includes/language/english/ index.php)

where shop is the folder which it's installed on, it may already be there when you access through ftp,
english can be what ever language you select to use.

open the language file up and you should be able to search the line, which appears on your main page of the oscommerce website.

Replace whats' in the ( ' something in here ' ) with your html code and it should fix the main page.

Hope it helped.

[PoA]

During the project, you've gotta ask him a lot of questions regarding about those files since you paid him to do. Your designer should explain to you too. Don't be afraid to ask when you hire next person.

[Troy]

mystique, here is the nitty-gritty. Since the pages are not just HTML, that is, they are PHP that outputs HTML, the only way for you to get the source files is ftp. If they were simple HTML pages, you could just view source in your browser and save them. I assume your site is data-driven, so PHP was a good development option.

Did either the guy hosting the site or the programmer give you an "ftp username and password"? If so, then ASAP login to your webserver using your ftp account and download all the files (including images, etc.) to your local harddrive.

If you have data stored in a database (such as MySql), do you have any access to the data that would allow you to export to text files or some other format? (For example, do you have access to something called "phpMyAdmin"?)

If you don't have access to the source files (ftp account), and you don't have access to get your data, then you are absolutely at the mercy of these guys. Of course you could use legal force, but will this be more trouble than it's worth?

If you don't have this access, and you ask them for it, they will immediately suspect you are up to something, and they'll make it even harder for you--most likely.

Now, in defense of the programmer, I understand where he's coming from to an extent. If the pages are 90% PHP code, and especially if he uses PHP to print out most of the HTML, then a non-programmer is very likely to mess up the code trying to edit the content. Now, if he had planned to build the site in a fashion where you could edit it from the start, he could have done that, but it would have been more work for him. I have plenty of data-driven sites I've built for clients where part of the deal is a controlpanel that allows them to change the parts they want.

If the relationship is going sour, and you end up needing a new host and/or PHP programmer, please contact me. Obviously, the best thing would be that you are able to work with you current people without getting gouged on the money.

[mmiikkee12]

Ask your friend (the one who owns the server) for the PHP source files. Then... you learn PHP. here's a good tutorial that can teach you the basics:
http://us4.php.net/manual/en/tutorial.php

[Troy]

Ask your friend (the one who owns the server) for the PHP source files.

It's not mystique's friend who owns the server, it's the programmer's friend. It sounds like those two are in cahoots on the deal.

[EWB-James]

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