Php Security Enhances Email

php is a good addition to your website because it has the capacity for relatively good security. If you have a simple html mailto tag, perhaps the time is at hand to consider beefing up the power of your website by including a php contact form.

• First Off, What is php?

php is a scripting language designed for web pages. It turbo charges your html because php syntax can be embedded as little php islands within the html itself - strewn throughout the html code - or as whole php file(s) that exist by itself, in a separate php file.

You will know you are looking at php syntax when you see the open bracket character (also referred to as the "less than" sign) followed by a question mark. The closing tag for php is a question mark, followed by the close bracket character, (referred to as the "greater than" sign). Right clicking on a web page and selecting "view source" is great if you want to see the html that powers that particular web page, but, it won't help you to find php code, because php code is served up. What this means is that when the person who wrote the html with the embedded php - or who wrote a whole separate php file - uploaded the file to the server, the php engine parsed out the php. User's get the result or the served up content, not the php directly. Just because the user can't right click and view the source php code doesn't mean the php isn't there. It is. It has just been parsed and remains behind the firewall.

• Security

Have you or a friend been hit with a spam onslaught in your email inbox? Where the heck does this stuff come from? While there are many ways for hackers to get information they should not have, people who write code for the web ought not make it easy for hackers. Leveraging an html mailto link may not be the best choice for certain websites, and may even open you up to an onslaught of problems. php helps with the problem of security because php has the capacity to be a relatively secure choice, when implemented properly.

Why is php a relatively secure choice?

php is a relatively secure choice because when the data is properly uploaded - as well as other checks and processes that need to be implemented but are beyond the scope of this article - email addresses, logins and passwords are kept behind the firewall, beyond the reach of malicious wrongdoers.