If you wish to develop Internet applications but don’t have your own development server,
you will have to upload every modification you make to a server somewhere else on the
Web before you can test it.
Even on a fast broadband connection, this can still represent a significant slowdown in
development time. On a local computer, however, testing can be as easy as saving an
update (usually just a matter of clicking once on an icon) and then hitting the Refresh
button in your browser.
Another advantage of a development server is that you don’t have to worry about embarrassing
errors or security problems while you’re writing and testing, whereas you
need to be aware of what people may see or do with your application when it’s on a
public website. It’s best to iron everything out while you’re still on a home or small office
system, presumably protected by firewalls and other safeguards.
Once you have your own development server, you’ll wonder how you ever managed
without one, and it’s easy to set one up. Just follow the steps in the following sections,
using the appropriate instructions for a PC, a Mac, or a Linux system.
In this chapter, we cover just the server side of the web experience, as described in
Chapter 1. But to test the results of your work—particularly when we start using Java‐
Script, CSS, and HTML5 later in this book—you should also have an instance of every
major web browser running on some system convenient to you. Whenever possible, the
list of browsers should include at least Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari,
and Google Chrome.
If you plan to ensure your sites look good on mobile devices too, then you should also
try to arrange access to a wide range of Apple iOS and Google Android phones and
tablets.
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