What you need to know
This chapter assumes that you have at least basic software development skills and experience with PHP and HTML. You do not need to be an expert in those languages. You should be able to read and understand their basic syntax and feel comfortable looking up PHP functions and HTML markup that are unfamiliar to you. To be an expert in creating Elgg plugins, a developer needs to know PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (especially the jQuery library). Most web developers are good in two or maybe three of those languages and know enough in the others to get by.
If you have never created a web page before or do not know what a for loop is, then this chapter will be be difficult for you. You will need to learn the basics first. A good starting place is introductory books on HTML and PHP or working through tutorials on the Web.
The last thing that you need to know is how PHP works with the web server to create web pages. This is a common point of confusion with developers who are...
