14.3 Publishing a Web Site | Web Application Development

A. Prepare the site for production

Test everything locally (all links, forms, cart, admin, mobile view).
Move configuration into one place (config/db.php or environment variables) so you only change it once.
Turn off error display (display_errors = 0) and log errors to a file instead.
Remove test pages, sample data, phpinfo() files and debug code.
Optimise: compress images, minify CSS and JavaScript (optional), use relative or correct absolute paths.
Export the database from phpMyAdmin (Export, SQL format).
Check case-sensitivity: Linux servers treat Logo.png and logo.png as different files (Windows does not).

B. Set up the server side (shared hosting with cPanel)

Log in to cPanel.
MySQL Databases: create a database, create a database user with a strong password, and add the user to the database with all privileges. (Hosts add prefixes such as acct_shop.)
phpMyAdmin: select the new database and Import your .sql file.
Edit config/db.php on the server with the new host (usually localhost), database name, username and password.
Select the PHP version (Select PHP Version or MultiPHP Manager) and enable needed extensions (pdo_mysql, curl, mbstring, gd).

C. Upload the files

Method	How
cPanel File Manager	Upload a `.zip` to `public_html`, then Extract (easiest for beginners)
FTP / SFTP	Use FileZilla: host, username, password, port 21 (FTP) or 22 (SFTP, preferred); drag files to `public_html`
Git deployment	`git push` to a repository; the host pulls or an action deploys (professional workflow)
SSH and rsync	For VPS servers

The website's root folder is usually public_html (or htdocs, www, html). The file index.php or index.html there is the home page.
Keep files that must not be public (config, vendor, private data) outside public_html when possible, or block access with .htaccess.
Set permissions: folders 755, files 644; upload folders writable by PHP only where necessary (never 777).

D. Test the live site

Visit the site and test every feature: registration, login, cart, checkout with sandbox payment, email sending, file uploads, mobile layout. Check the host's error log if something fails (500 errors are usually a wrong database password, a missing PHP extension, a wrong path or a PHP version mismatch).

E. After launch

Backups: automatic daily backups of files and database; test a restore.
Monitoring: uptime monitoring (UptimeRobot), error logs.
Updates: keep PHP and libraries updated; remove unused plugins.
SEO basics: meaningful <title> and meta description, headings, alt text, sitemap.xml, robots.txt, fast loading, register with Google Search Console.
Performance: enable gzip or brotli, browser caching headers, image compression, CDN (e.g. Cloudflare).
Legal pages: privacy policy, terms and conditions, return policy, cookie notice.