[Originally published on May 23, 2017.]
Nifty. I like being able to test HTML, CSS, PHP, and Javascript on a local web server. That is exactly what XAMPP does. It installs Apache, MySQL, and your choice of PHP versions, along with other optional applications, onto your Windows PC. Works great on my laptop running Windows 10.
You can get XAMPP here: http://www.apachefriends.org.
After you install XAMPP, the default directory for the documents you want to test is “/xampp/htdocs”.
Just start your web browser and type in “http://localhost” for the URL. You can also use the IP address equivalent of localhost, which is “http://127.0.0.1”. The default “index.html” file in “/htdocs” will load in your web browser.
If you test files other than “index” files, or in different subdirectories (folders), you will need to type in the express URL, like so:
Testing this way works better than simply opening the file in question with your web browser as you now get to see your file served up using a real web server (Apache) and communicating with any linked PHP code or databases.
XAMPP comes with a control panel. Here is a screen shot of the control panel:
Check it out, aspiring web coders, if you haven’t tried it!