Testing the Macintosh web server (PHP developers)

You can use the Apache web server already installed on your Macintosh to develop PHP applications.

To test the server, create a simple HTML page called myTestFile.html and save it in the /Users/your_user_name/Sites/ folder on your Macintosh (where your_user_name is your Macintosh user name). The HTML page can consist of a single line, such as:

<p>My web server is working.</p> 

Next, open the test page in a web browser with an HTTP request by entering the following URL in your web browser:

http://localhost/~your_user_name/myTestFile.html

If the browser displays your page, the web server is running normally. If the browser fails to display the page, make sure the web server is started by opening System Preferences and looking at the Sharing preference panel. The Personal Web Sharing option should be enabled.

Your Apache web server won’t work with PHP by default; you must configure it before you can use PHP. For more information, see Configuring your system (PHP).