Best PHP Libraries That Every Website Developer Should Know

PHP is a very powerful website scripting language that helps the developers to create dynamic and engaging web pages. It is a server site scripting language that powers over 240 million websites. The source code of PHP can be implemented with HTML code or it can also be used with many web frameworks, standalone graphical applications and template engines. Since there is no better alternative to PHP, more and more developers are now opting for it.

There are numerous PHP libraries that are available in the web and the libraries allow the developers to take advantage of object oriented approach. PHP itself has many in-built libraries and they serve as the API for communicating with the static or dynamic websites. There are many PHP libraries that are available and it is not possible for everyone to test and select the best one. Developers should take full advantage of the libraries to simplify their work and serve the best. So, to simplify your job of searching for the best PHP libraries, we have shortlisted some of the best and useful PHP libraries for the web developers that will be helpful for your future projects.

PChart:  This is an impressive PHP library and it helps to generate text data in a visual chart form. The data can also be displayed in various chart forms that include the bar chart, pie chart and other formats. The PHP script provides object oriented coding syntax and generates the graphs and the charts by using the SQL queries that help to create amazing visuals.

PHP text to image: The name itself suggests that the library converts the text into an image and this is used in certain cases like displaying the phone number as an image that is not possible to find programmatically.  This can help to reduce the possibility of the phone number or your email address being picked up by the crawlers and then used as junk.

PHP CAPTCHA: This is another important PHP library that helps to create automated audio and visual CAPTCHA.  They are completely automated challenges that use the Turning test and helps to differentiate between the humans and the bots. The library needs PHP 4 compiled with FreeType text and GD 1 and 2 generation support.

PHP Thumbnailer: This is a simple image manipulation PHP library that assists in thumbnail generation. It does not need installing further external libraries and it offers additional control over the thumbnails like resizing it by height, percentage, width, creating custom crops, rotating of the image and etc.

Faker:  This is another very useful PHP library that helps to create fake data wherever required. It is by using this library that you can perform a wide range of task like anonymizing the data, bootstrapping database and creating XML documents and also conduct the stress tests.

PHP export XLS Class: It is a lightweight, simple, fast PHP library that helps to export different types of data to Excel. The library can convert a wide range of data formats to .xls format and it can work with may worksheets, different types of fonts, meta data, styles, cell borders, fills and also gradients.  The website developers can use the PHP extension to add images to their spread sheets.

PhpDocumentor: This helps you to generate documentation directly from the PHP source code. It gives you an in-depth view of the project to your customers regarding the features and functionalities that are embedded within the source code. It offers a flexible template system that allows to alter the output according to the requirements. The developers can also extract information from it and present it in the form of reports or graphics