On the WebHostingHero blog today there's a new post going back to the roots of the PHP language and some of the original contributors like Rasmus Lerdorf, Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans.

When PHP began in 1995, it represented a fork on common object oriented programming languages. Designed to help provide scripting for the web, the language took on a life of its own as it became one of the primary web development standards. Today, PHP is used by millions worldwide and powers a majority of sites.

They talk about how some of the original developers are active in helping to better the languages (directly and indirectly) and how the advocacy of the community has helped it grow even stronger over the years. There's also mini-spotlights on each of the three mentioned above.

Stefan Mischook (of the KillerPHP.com site) has posted a new video tutorial about creating WordPress themes:

I just released a new video course on how to create a Wordpress theme/template from scratch. In these 12 videos, we will take someone with some beginner HTML and CSS skills through the steps needed to build a WordPress template from scratch. The videos use only a collection of freely downloadable tools that are available on Windows and Mac.

The full series will cost about $20 USD for a download or $30 USD to have the DVD shipped out to you. The videos focus on different parts of the process like making top-level navigation, setting up content areas and and creation of a custom homepage.