We know that Open Source Content Management Systems are powerful platform for creating a Website. The main attractions we prefer it are its widgets which are created using PHP and that is why this programming language became so important to learn. Facebook, Zynda and many famous sites are using PHP too. So, if you want to learn PHP and are confused on where to start and where to learn, here are few websites names listed to make it easy for you. These are free and cheap to learn. Just pick the one which suit you best and start learning. These sites can’t make you super programmer but can help you get started easily and from there on you can improve your skills.

The Top ten websites:
1.    PHP Manual:
The official manual for PHP is this site which is filled with different concepts with explanations. Users also can contribute their notes here.

2.    PHP Tutorial – learn PHP by Tizag:
The writing style and presentation is quite good and the focus is on definitions and methods. With this you may have to struggle to put everything together in an application. Use it as reference instead.

3.      PHP Tutorial by W3Schools:
This one is similar to the Tizag in case of writing style and presentation. So, you may like to use it for reference too.

4.     PHP101 – PHP for the Absolute Beginners:
This site is a series of entertaining tutorials by Vikram Vaswani, CEO and founder of Melonfire. It’s very easy to understand and the flow is clear.

5.     Practical PHP Programming:
This one has a very nice flow. Each chapter is capable of explaining different sections of PHP. You’ll see overview, few exercises and resources too.

6.     Killer PHP:
This website promises to teach you PHP as quickly as possible. The videos are also very helpful here but they aren’t that engaging.

7.     Learn PHP Tutorial:
There is a list of downloadable video tutorials teaching basics of PHP that shows what can be done with PHP using examples and practices.

8.     Surviving The Deep End: The Zend Framework:
This one is a predominant PHP framework. It explains the basics of PHP and how you can use this framework.

9.     PHP With MySQL Essential Training:
This one is an 11 hour course by Lynda.com. Simply sign up for a 7-day free trial and you’ll find the videos easy to follow.

10.      Getting Started with PHP (USD25):
It’s a series of videos that can teach you how to code with a process of building an online store. Basic HTML and CSS skills are enough to do this project.

Few Books:
Now that you’ve basic knowledge you may like to dive into books too. These are few best books to learn PHP.

1.       PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy by David Powers
2.       PHP for Absolute Beginners by Jason Lengstorf
3.       PHP Cookbook by Adam Trachtenberg
4.       PHP and MySQL Web Development by Luke Welling
5.       PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy
6.       The Joy Of PHP: A Beginner’s Guide To Programming Interactive Web Applications With PHP And MySQL
7.       PHP For The Web: Visual Quick Start Guide by Larry Ullman
8.       PHP Cookbook: Solutions And Examples For PHP Programmers
9.       Murach’s PHP and MySQL
10.    PHP Objects, Patterns And Practice
These are really good books to read and are recommended by many PHP professionals.