Trying to install the Apache server on your home computer can bring you close to tears at the best of times (yes, I’ve been there!). So imagine how much more frustrating it can get when trying to install and integrate PHP, MySQL or Perl as well. The good people at Apache Friends heard our cries for help and came to the rescue with XAMPP.

XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is FREE and really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start. There are currently four XAMPP distributions available, Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris. Each distribution comes with additional extras, like phpMyAdmin, FTP server, OpenSSL and Mail Transport etc.

You are advised against using XAMPP in a production environment and only an insane person would use the Windows distribution in a production environment anyway. Use it for building and testing your site offline and always consult a professional if in doubt.

WordPress is the official successor to b2/cafelog and was developed by Matthew Mullenweg. WordPress is a personal publishing platform built on PHP and MySQL and is licensed under the GPL.

To put it another way, WordPress is a freely downloadable blogging solution that you can have up and running on your own site within 10-15minutes (slightly longer if you’re new to PHP and MySQL). This is no ordinary blogging platform though. This one comes with some really neat features. Like instant publishing without the need to regenerate static pages and intelligent text formatting. Spam protection with an integrated blacklist and open proxy checker. Support for multiple authors with their own individual logins and user levels. Themes, don’t get me started about the themes, there are just too many to choose from. For more features and examples of the themes checkout the WordPress Features and WordPress Themes pages.

WordPress is being used by thousands of sites all over the web and is currently used to run this site (we love WordPress ‘ x ‘ ). So, whether you’re a novice looking at setting up your own blog or a hardcore Internet veteran looking for something with a focus on web standards, that is both solid and aesthetically pleasing then get yourself a copy of WordPress today and start blogging in style.

Not everyone is a designer, and not everyone can afford to pay a designer to work on their website. These people usually end up with crappy sites that doesn’t attract return traffic. Some go on great lengths to find affordable solutions, but most designers charge quite a bit. Custom design is expensive. But if you’re the kind of person who aren’t worried to wear the same clothes as your neighbor, you might like to take a look at 4Templates. They offer prebuilt web interfaces (templates) starting $4.99. Some of their designs are really impressive. They have thousands to choose from, suitable for almost any kind of website you can think of.

For those of you who can’t afford a cent for a web template, you might want to check out Layouts4Free. Their templates are not as professional looking as those at 4Templates but some are very exceptional.

I hope you find this article helpful and feel free to contact us with any questions you might have.

Good luck with your websites and remember to have fun with it!

Vanilla is a break-through in forum software. It focuses on what’s important, the discussions, rather than categories. It introduces a fresh forum experience with better structure designed to help the users. It’s also free. Nothing beats Vanilla. Every webmaster with a decent forum membership should consider swapping. Vanilla is delicious to the eyes.

From their website:

Meet Vanilla: a new kind of web forum

With Vanilla we wanted to break the mold created and followed by just about every other forum on the web. We sat down and thought about what we liked, and more importantly, what we didn’t like about web forums. We wanted emphasis on the discussions rather than the statistics. We wanted to stop using MSN or AIM to send secret messages to other forum members; We wanted to be able to save the common searches. Basically, we wanted the thing to work for us instead of against us. Most importantly we wanted it to be free and we wanted it to run on just about every web server out there. So, Vanilla is a PHP / MySQL solution that is 100% open-source. You can take it and alter it and use it free of charge. The GPL is your friend.

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If you love to write and you’re interested in expanding your blogging experience this could be a great chance for both you and us. We’re in hunt for a few guest bloggers. If this appeals to you, please drop us a line with a short background of your blogging experience. We can’t offer any financial compensations right now. We will however link to your blog and pass you our exit traffic. As this place grows we will generate a meaningful amount of traffic which could mean free exposure to you. But most importantly we’re looking for bloggers who love technology and would like to have fun with us here. The experience itself is generally rewarding.

This post marks the birth of the digitalSURGERY blog. We’re here to help webmasters build their websites and to help users have a better surfing experience. dS as we abbreviate ourselves will focus on mainstream (and not so mainstream) web technology, software, design solutions, value hosting, blogging and other various interesting topics around the web. dS backend is powered by the most awesomest blogging software, WordPress. Thanks to Matt and his crew.

I hope everyone will find this website (blog) useful. We are excited for what we have to come.