PHP Web Application Design Basics

Question

I am making a twitter application using PHP. Please excuse me if this question is elementary. In my application, the initial landing page (index.php) contains code for login/oauth. If the user logs in successfully, should I load a new page altogether or simply echo html that renders the user's profile page. For example: if(login success) { load a file that renders selected user's profile page }

or something like

if(login success) { echo html that renders a profile page. }

Answer 1

I'd recommend looking into the use of some sort of PHP MVC framework.

Answer 2

If I understand correctly, you're trying to decide what to show the user once they log in. Rather than think what you should show them, what does the user want to do right away? Why do they use your site? If users want to see their profile right off the bat, then do that. If they want to see feed activity, show them that. To start off, you may want to create a simple page that acknowledges they are logged in and give them their major options. Track what users click and see what that tells you. If the vast majority use feature X immediately, then consider loading feature X first. If the users are all over the map, let them pick what they want to do, record it as a preference in their profile, and load that automatically.

In the end, the best thing to show a user when the log in is the first thing they most want to see. :)