PHP & Web Development Blogs

Interested in sponsoring? Check out the prospectus

A little history

Several years ago I had the distinct privilege of founding Midwest PHP with Jonathan Sundquist. The goal was simple, to bring an affordable PHP conference to Minnesota and the midwest region.

Midwest PHP was created for one simple reason - there weren't a lot of alternatives, especially affordable ones. At the time, your choices were ZendCon in Silicon Valley, php[tek] in Chicago, or Northeast PHP in Boston. While Northeast PHP formed the blueprint of a community conference - it still required a flight and a costly hotel in Boston. I wanted something where local attendees, college students, and those just beginning in their PHP careers could go to learn, network, and become part of the PHP community.

Shortly after Midwest PHP was formed (originally we were using the name PHPFreeze - until Sundquist told me what a horrible idea it was), Adam Culp launched Sunshine PHP which has become one of the top community focused PHP conferences (but still requires that flight and hotel in Miami). Sundquist and I knew that any reasonable developer would still prefer to attend a conference in a blizzard than enjoy the beautiful Floridian weather (ok, that might not be it, but we still understood the need that existed).

After moving to California for my new job, Jonathan Sundquist continued to run Midwest PHP as more community conferences appeared. With his efforts, and the torch being passed to Mike Willbanks, Midwest PHP celebrated it's seventh consecutive year, becoming the longest continuously running PHP conference (if you go by formed date, if you go by actual conference date Sunshine PHP beats us out by a month).

A renewed focus

Because of the incredible work Jonathan and Mike have done, Midwest PHP has stood the test of time - and the peaks and valleys that come with any conference. With the shifts in the PHP community and the sad loss of several community conferences - we realized the need for Midwest PHP is more now than ever, and to meet that need we needed to reimagine the way the conference operated.

We also realized that the best way to make Midwest PHP accessible was to combine forces, creating a seamless partnership between Nomad PHP and Midwest PHP. Through this partnership we're not only able to stream the event to make it more accessible ($19.95/mo), but also expand the conference.

This year, taking place onApril 2-4, 2020 - Midwest PHP will bring together over 800 developers both in-person and virtually! Making this year truly unique, however, and staying with our purpose of helping new developers be part of the PHP community is abrand new, FREE, beginner track. I'm excited to say we will be giving away 200 tickets to those wishing to attend our Beginner or Learn PHP track!!!

We will also work to keep prices as low as possible as we offer our standard PHP tracks (Everyday PHP and PHP Performance & Security) starting at $250/ person, anda brand new enterprise track geared at developers facing challenges at unprecedented scale starting at $450/ person.

Last but not least, it is our goal with the help of our sponsors to include the workshop day as part of your ticket price - allowing you to get one day of in-depth training, and two more full days of sessions. On top of this, we're also excited to make the Nomad PHP and Nomad JS video libraries available for Standard and Enterprise attendees, providing over 220 additional virtual sessions on demand!

For sponsors

Sponsoring a conference is hard. We understand the challenge of gauging ROI, planning travel, and coordinating outreach. With the combined forces of Midwest PHP and Nomad PHP, we're able to offer sponsors unique plans that maximize their investment - while ensuring the funds go back into the event to create an amazing experience for our attendees.

Beyond Midwest PHP's goal to be the largest PHP conference this year - the included Nomad PHP advertising will help you reach a much larger and broader audience, allowing for follow up advertisements and consistent engagement with the PHP community.

Interested in sponsoring? Check out the prospectus

Next steps

For more information, please visit the Midwest PHP website. The venue, call for papers, and additional information will all be posted there soon.

You've built an amazing website, but how do you make sure people can find your site via search engines? In this article we cover 10 best practices to make sure your article not only stands out, but ranks well with search engines.

1. Take time to research keywords

To determine the best keywords for your site, you'll need to do some keyword research. This usually consists of combing through your competitors' sites for the keywords that are driving them the most traffic. There are several ways you can get started with keyword research. One recommended way is to create a spreadsheet with your competitors' sites listed and add keywords that you can copy and paste your competitors' keywords into Google's Keyword Tool and Google Webmaster Tools Keyword Analyzer tool. Analyze your competition's site's website titles to find out what keywords they are using tools such as Ahrefs, Moz, SpyFu, or SEMrush to find out what keywords others are using on your competitor's site.

2. Focus on your Title tag

This is the headline for every article. It needs to be bold and attention grabbing so it can catch the eye of potential users. Pick it somewhere around 60-90 characters to make sure it is displayed properly in search engines as well as readable in the browser tab. As you write your title, focus on the unique keywords your readers are likely to search for. Also make sure that the keywords you select are relevant to your page. Another good practice is to make the title tag and your header (h1) the same.

3. Carefully craft your H1, H2, H3 tags

Careful usage of header tags helps search engines identify keywords within your page. To get the best results from your header tags, use H1, H2, and H3 in order with keywords in your H2 and H3 headers that support your H1 tag. Remember, your H1 tag should mimic your title tag, whereas the H2 and H3 can expand and add additional context. You can also utilize multiple H2 and H3 tags, however be sure that these headers are supporting the H1 tag and relevant to the content on your page. Using irrelevant header keywords can actually work to your disadvantage.

4. Avoid loading content with JavaScript

Despite it's popularity, JavaScript is not yet well supported by search engines and can mask important content. Progressive Web Apps in particular can suffer as key content is loaded after the page is spidered, or in the case of many search engines that do not yet index JavaScript not loaded at all. This is also the case for many social media sites, meaning that content loaded dynamically is not evaluated or pulled in, resulting in the default skeleton of your site being what shows up in search engines and in link previews.

5. Carefully name images

In the past search engines would evaluate your images based on their alt tag, however as more and more developers loaded irrelevant keywords into this hidden image text search engines instead added more emphasis to the actual name of the image itself. This means using generic image names such as 1.jpg can actually hurt your site ranking as search engines might be looking for seokeywords.jpg. Now, just because you're carefully naming your images with relevant keywords describing the image doesn't mean you should ignore the alt tag. Be sure to continue to include alt tags for older search engines, in the case the image doesn't load, and for accessibility (ie screen readers).

6. Work to improve your page load time

It’s not a secret that faster sites rank higher in search engines. Most search engines use the PageSpeed Index from Google to determine the speed of websites. One thing Google looks at is how fast images are loading. For this reason, we recommend taking a look at how long it takes for the first image to load on your site or even take advantage of lazy loading for non-critical images. You want images to be loading within 30 seconds at the absolute latest, before the user can actually click on the page. You also need to make sure that if you're using multiple images that they load as one group. Next, take a look at how long it takes to load a webpage. Are pages taking longer than three seconds to load on your site? You want to have pages that load fast for users, but your code and templates can easily be causing this to happen.

7. Optimize text throughout your page

Beyond your title tag, headers, and images it's important to work keywords into your standard content, while also working to avoid overloading keywords. To help prevent overloading and increase search engine rankings across multiple keywords you can use alternative phrases. In the case of "PHP training" an alternative phrase might be "PHP tutorials" or "PHP course." This both helps support the primary keyword, while also allowing the page to rank for these keywords as well. Remember to use the tools referenced above to find the keywords that are right for your site, and then work them in to natural sentences without forcing keywords or becoming overly repetitive. Also keep in mind, just as important as the content and keywords on the page are to search engines, how users engage with that content is also critical. If your page experience's high bounce rates or low engagement with the content, it is likely to be deprioritized by search engines, meaning a page highly optimized for search engines but not humans may enjoy a higher ranking, but only for a short time before it is heavily penalized.

8. Build your Domain and Page Authority

Domain and Page Authority are determined not just by the number of back-links (or sites linking to your domain or page), but also the quality of the sites and pages linking to you. One practice that has made obtaining a better DA or PA harder has been purchasing or acquiring bulk back-links. Note this practice is actually against Google's TOS and may result in your entire site being banned from their search results! Because of this practice, it's important to focus on high quality sites and work to get back-links naturally either through partnerships or syndicated content (such as blog posts). You can also check your DA here or using one of the many tools referenced above.

9. Take advantage of social media

Speaking of back-links, social media can be a powerful tool for increasing page visibility while also improving your search engine rankings! Remember, most social sites do not support or read JavaScript, so ensure your content is available on the page. If you do have a progressive web app with JavaScript loading your content, look into using Headless Chrome to render a JavaScript free version of your site for specific bots (note - the content MUST be the same content a user would see or your site may be blocked). There are also numerous tools to allow you to build the content via JavaScript on the server backend before passing it to your readers. To help get even more exposure, consider adding social share links or tools like AddThis.

10. Good SEO takes time

The truth is that there really aren't any special secrets or ingredients to ranking well in search engines (well not that Google has publicly shared). Instead it's about properly formatting your page, making sure it's readable to search engines, and providing content that your readers will engage with. As you provide more valuable content, and more people like and link to your content - your site's Domain Authority will gradually increase, giving your site and pages more powerful - resulting in a higher ranking.

Your biggest asset is also your biggest risk... your developers

Your business thrives because of the incredible work and innovation of your developers. With simple keystrokes your developers can completely transform your business, add new features, and drive new sales.

But those same keystrokes can take down production, create security back doors, and put your business at risk. That's why it's more important than ever for your team members to be up to speed with the latest technology, especially around performance and security.

Of course, some things are easier said than done - after all everyone is super busy these days. So how can you help keep your team members learning, and putting your business first in the process?

Conference Parties

There's nothing better than attending a PHP or programming conference in person - the chance to meet speakers face to face, to network, the knowledge, and the hallway track. However, many companies aren't able to afford multiple (or even one) conference for their developers - especially ones that require airfare and hotel.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't still participate in these conferences. The good news is that roughly once a quarter Nomad PHP streams talks from a conference right to your computer. This means that your team members can all participate in a multi-day conference from the comfort of your office (or their home) - and you can provide this for your team for less than the cost of a single conference ticket!

Make the conference party even more special by providing lunch during the lunch break, bringing in party gifts, having give-aways during the conference, and planning activities during longer breaks for your team.

Since many conferences take place on Friday, not only are you providing invaluable training and an incredible work benefit, but ending the week on a super positive note that your team members will appreciate (and your risk assessment teams will greatly appreciate as new security practices and compliance practices are put into place).

Monthly Lunch and Learns

Every month Nomad PHP offers live virtual talks by the industry's top experts. With talks at 11am Pacific, and 6pm Pacific it's a perfect time to grab a conference room and order a couple pizzas for lunch (or if Eastern, grab some snacks and maybe a beer) and play the monthly meeting on the large screen.

Your team members will have the opportunity to take notes, discuss with each other, and perhaps most importantly ask the speaker real-world questions that directly impact your business, providing tangible solutions to the problems they are facing.

And since every Nomad PHP Pro meeting is recorded, your team members can refer back to the video at any time, watching sections relevant to them or digging in for more information.

Developer Book Club

Encourage your team members to share what they're learning with others, and help build each other up. Not only are you helping grow skills and ensure your team is following the latest best practices, but you're also fostering a mentor-mentality within your team - where each team member feels invested in the growth of other members.

With Nomad PHP you receive a new issue of [php[architect]](/books) each month and have several additional books available to read on demand - providing the latest updates and an invaluable resource to help your book club get started.

Developer Movie Nights

Sometimes we all just want to get away, grab some popcorn, and watch a movie. Similar to lunch and learns, give your developers a night or two where they can get together and watch one of the 250+ training videos available on Nomad PHP. You can even make it a movie marathon!

Whether it's pizza, popcorn, sodas, beers - your team members will have the chance to kick back, relax a bit, build team camaraderie, and learn valuable skills to help your business succeed. Essentially, turning a training day into a fun team-bonding activity.

Learning Path Challenges

Every company has challenges, and areas they need their team members to master. Whether it's DevOps and containerization, security, performance, management, modernization, or soft skills - work with your team to determine what skills will help them succeed and work with your team members to put together video learning paths.

Your team members can watch through these videos on-demand, go back and replay to refresh their knowledge, and work their way towards mastery in the subjects that will help your company succeed.

Certification

Show that you are invested in your developers by helping them earn Professional Certification. These certifications demonstrate that your team members have a fundamental grasp of the technology they are working with and understand when and how to use this technology.

With free certification exams included with Nomad PHP - you no longer have to worry about failed exams or expensive test credits. Your team members can take the exams at their own pace, discover the areas they need to improve, and take the exam again when they are ready. After all, shouldn't the goal of certification be to help your developers learn these skills and prove their expertise?

You can go even further with certifications by having a special company award, framing their certificate, or calling out newly certified developers at team meetings or all-hands.

Learning Incentives/ Rewards

Of course there are even more ways you can help your developers learn new skills, grow their careers, and build loyalty within your company. With Nomad PHP there are numerous ways for your team members to grow their skills, and numerous ways you can reward/ incentivize them - from rewards for the most active learner, to setting goals for learning new skills, to obtaining certifications, to attending streams, to watching videos on-demand. All of these are included with our Professional Nomad PHP Team subscriptions.

Want to learn more about getting a Nomad Team Subscription for your developers? Give us a call (844) CODE-PHP

Have more ideas on how to help your developers grow their skills or help employers make education more accessible? Please leave your ideas in the comments below!

To say that we have been hard at work here at Nomad PHP, or that I'm excited about these three announcements would be a tremendous understatement. Over the past several months, behind the scenes, we've been working to bring even more features and benefits to Nomad PHP - these have already included unlimited streaming of all past meetings and access to PHP Architect.

Available today, however, you'll also have access to online, live workshops - as well as soon have the ability to stream select PHP conferences live, and finally to prove the knowledge you have gained through our online certification.

Online, Live Workshops

Like our online meetings, we are excited to announce that available today you can participate in online, live, and interactive workshops. Our first workshop will feature Michael Stowe, author of Undisturbed REST: a guide to Designing the Perfect API as he demonstrates how to build the perfect API using modern technologies and techniques.

Additional workshops will be announced as we continue, with a minimum of one workshop per quarter. These workshops will be part of your Nomad PHP subscription, and will be recorded for later viewing.

Nomad PHP Certification

With the many changes impacting the PHP ecosystem, we're proud to announce the ability to prove your knowledge with our online certification. Each certification is made up numerous, randomly selected questions to be completed within a specific time frame. Depending on the exam it may or may not be proctored, but all exams monitor user activity to ensure compliance.

To pass the exam, a passing grade (specified on each exam) must be completed for each section within the allotted time frame. Failure to complete or pass any section will result in a failing grade for the entire exam.

Upon completion, you will receive a digital certification with verification to post on LinkedIn or your website, as well as having your Nomad PHP updated to show the passed certification.

Initial certification exams will include PHP Developer Level I, PHP Engineer Level II, and API Specialist Level I. The PHP Developer exam will cover core components of PHP, the Engineer will cover a broad spectrum of topics including modern technologies, and the API Specialist will cover REST design and architecture practices.

All three exams will be available by January 31, 2019, and will be included with a Nomad PHP subscription.

Stream Select PHP Conferences Live

One of the primary goals of Nomad PHP is to bring the community together, and allow users all over the country to participate in conference level talks. What better way to do this than to bring community conferences online?

Like our traditional talks, these conferences and select conference sessions will be live-streamed as part of your Nomad PHP subscription, allowing you to participate in real-time with in-person conference attendees.

The first conference to be streamed will be DayCamp4Developers: Beyond Performance on January 18, 2018. Additional conferences to be streamed will be announced shortly.

Community and Corporate Sponsorships

With these new additions to Nomad PHP, now is the perfect time to take advantage of our new Community and Corporate sponsorships.

Your support of Nomad PHP not only makes all the above possible, but allows Nomad PHP to continue to serve and give back the community. We're proud, that despite operating at a loss, to have already contributed over$4,000 to the PHP community in the last 5 months.

To learn more about the sponsorship and community opportunities we have available, please visit our Advertising section.

Other Ways to Support Nomad PHP

Of course, while financial support helps us keep afloat and do more for the community, there are even more, and just as important ways to support Nomad PHP. Please consider linking to Nomad PHP, or sharing the service with your friends.

Artificial Intelligence has significantly transformed the way we work and interpret information. With technologies such as OCR, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and computer vision; machines are now able to provide greater insights and perform tasks that typically required hours and hours of work from humans.

What is artificial intelligence?

A.I. or artificial intelligence is the technology that enables machines to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence. But instead of using human brains, A.I. uses different technologies such as computers, or even software algorithms, to perform tasks. Some of the most common A.I. technologies include speech recognition, voice recognition, machine translation, natural language processing, computer vision, and predictive analytics. The term artificial intelligence comes from the combination of artificial and intelligence. While artificial intelligence is a property of the physical world, intelligence is the property of the mind. How does it make sense in Web Development? As mentioned earlier, A.I. has significantly transformed the way we work and interpret information.

How is AI applied to web development?

In the majority of cases, AI is used to assist a developer in a number of functions: Automatically format existing content, analyze images for semantic meaning Break down complex tasks into smaller pieces Example applications of AI in web development Example image compression algorithms. Tools such as image recognition and machine learning have been key factors in the development of new image processing algorithms. Traditionally, manually processing an image was a lengthy and tedious process, but when computer vision was introduced into the process it drastically decreased the amount of time required to complete this task. Now, programs such as image recognition can identify objects in images and classify them based on both visual and metadata attributes.

Machine learning

When data is fed into a machine learning algorithm, the machine learns to understand it. For instance, if you provide a machine learning algorithm examples of dogs verses blueberries, the machine will learn to identify what a picture of a blueberry looks like, verses a picture of a dog. Natural Language Processing Natural language processing is a sub-field of machine learning. You can apply natural language processing for reading emails, chatting, or writing blog posts (such as this one!). A good example of natural language processing in action can be found in Microsoft's Cortana. Deep learning This is the most popular type of artificial intelligence today.

Deep learning

Deep learning algorithms are very similar to how the human brain works, with its built in mechanisms to learn and memorise a vast amount of information. It's these connections that enable machines to be able to recognise patterns and learn from them. An example of this is Google Translate, which recognises more than a 1,000 languages. This isn't an example of AI but it shows how useful these programs can be. Deep learning is one of the hottest technologies in the field of machine learning and this explains why almost all of the major technology companies are pushing these advances forward.

Natural language processing

For example, your phone can understand you better when you speak to it. If you say “Hey, Siri,” your phone will listen to you and respond to your questions. In general, it means that the system has been trained and is able to better understand the context of what you’re trying to communicate. This type of Natural Language Processing is used in the majority of companies today, including the likes of Google and Apple, to improve the user experience, provide better customer service, and to aid in the effective execution of processes. Machine learning Machine Learning is an extremely powerful technique used to further improve the knowledge of artificial intelligence, as well as to make machines smarter by discovering patterns and generalities in vast amounts of data.

Computer vision

Computer vision is a technology that has been able to recognize objects in images and video for eons. A popular example is Apple's Siri, which was one of the first software to use computer vision to provide contextual awareness. AI is built on this technology, providing the capability to recognize various images and videos. The industry is still in its infancy, but what we have seen so far has been incredibly incredible. What's amazing is that just a few years ago we thought that vision was completely under our control, but now, it has evolved to understand the nuances of objects.

Conclusion

“In the year 2050, the Amazon book you ordered for your Kindle will be delivered by a drone.”

This futuristic statement by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos did leave you pondering. But it is one thing to dream about the future and another thing to think about the innovations taking place in the present and how you can exploit them to drive better business results. To make the most of the technologies coming to our everyday lives, we must acquire a knowledge of the AI technology, its features, and its application. Succeeding in today’s competitive and challenging business world, requires a broad set of skills such as coding, business analysis, computer programming, and ecommerce marketing.

Learn more about AI with our video library