The web sites we develop are written in PHP and have MySQL database backends. Your customer will still see the user friendly interface that has been designed, but because PHP is generating the web site as it goes along you can have dynamic element in the pages. Special offers and promotions, a preview of new products or a list of items people may like based on what they've purchased in the past.

The basic flow of data is shown in the diagram below.

Of course PHP is not just limited to shop cart. For a corporate environment you may have an online calendar so employees can check a persons schedule at any time or an online project management system for remote workers. The possibilities are endless.

If you operate a portal website or a site that revolves heavily around news then XML or RSS feeds maybe just what you looking for. With these short snippets of information can make you pages update automatically when things change.