In this new post on his blog, John Maver gives a step-by-step guide for creating a PHP5 application for the popular social networking site Bebo.com.

I have been answering a lot of email requests for how to get started with a Bebo application. Since applications can be written in any language that supports interaction with the Bebo REST API, developers have a lot of choices in how they build their application. The focus of this article will be on the "officially supported language" - PHP.

He defines the parts of the application first (the callback, canvas page, profile box, invitation and news stories). Much like the Facebook API, the Bebo system has you host the application on your own servers and use their developer libraries to interface with their systems. He makes a simple application that has a "story" published to it that shows to each visitor.

He also tosses in a method for knowing a bit more about the user - like if they've just added the application, if they're a normal user or if they've just removed it from their application list.

WordPress, one of the most popular pieces of PHP-based weblog software out there, has never been famous for it's templating system - specifically, making them. Thankfully, there's a new utility that's looking to make that a thing of the past - Canvas.

The tool integrates its results with your existing WordPress installation to make for quick and easy layout editing without you having to know a single bit of PHP, HTML, or CSS. The interface allows you to drag and drop elements into place and includes a plugin system to make for easy enhancements down the line.