How to Build an Efficient Book Recommendation Site with PHP and Typecho

Building an Efficient Book Recommendation Platform with PHP and Typecho

In the digital age, the way readers discover new books is constantly evolving. Book recommendation websites have become increasingly popular. For beginners looking to create one, combining PHP with Typecho offers a low-cost, beginner-friendly solution that's quick to deploy and maintain.

Why Choose PHP and Typecho?

PHP is a widely-used server-side scripting language with strong community support and a mature ecosystem. Typecho, a lightweight and flexible blogging system based on PHP, supports theme and plugin customization, making it ideal for building blog-style or content aggregation websites.

Installing and Setting Up Typecho

Start by downloading the latest version of Typecho from its official website and extracting the files into your server’s root directory. Launch the installation wizard and follow the steps to complete the database configuration and site initialization.

Creating a Custom Theme

In the /usr/themes/ directory, create a new folder named book_recommend and add a file named index.php. This file will contain the core logic of your website.

Begin by defining some constants:

<?php
define('THEME_NAME', 'Book Recommendation');
define('THEME_DESCRIPTION', 'A simple book recommendation website');
?>

Next, include the core Typecho files and initialize the database object:

<?php
require_once 'path/to/Typecho/Widget.php';
require_once 'path/to/Typecho/Db.php';

$db = Typecho_Db::get();
?>

Fetching Book Data from the Database

The following code fetches book records from a books table and displays them on the site in descending order of publish time:

<?php
$books = $db->fetchAll($db->select()->from('table.books')->order('publish_time DESC'));
foreach ($books as $book) {
    echo '<div class="book">';
    echo '<h2>' . $book['title'] . '</h2>';
    echo '<p>' . $book['author'] . '</p>';
    echo '<p>' . $book['description'] . '</p>';
    echo '</div>';
}
?>

Adding Styles for a Better Visual Experience

Create a style.css file inside the book_recommend theme directory and include the following styles to enhance the layout:

.book {
    border: 1px solid #ccc;
    padding: 10px;
    margin-bottom: 10px;
}

.book h2 {
    font-size: 20px;
    color: #333;
}

.book p {
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #666;
}

Activating the Custom Theme

Log into the Typecho admin panel, go to "Appearance" > "Themes", and activate the book_recommend theme. Once activated, your book recommendation website will be live.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can quickly create a simple yet fully functional book recommendation site using PHP and Typecho. This project is ideal for PHP beginners and can be expanded with features like search, user comments, or category filters. Hopefully, this guide provides a helpful foundation for your first content site.