For a start, why would you be interested in using WordPress together with PhoneGap? I would ask, "Why wouldn't you?" My opinion is that WordPress is among the easiest-to-use content management systems with the required basic functions/features built-in, which includes registration, administration panel, posts management, and so on. More importantly, you can extend it in almost any way you want through the use of plugins and themes. How does this relate to PhoneGap? Using WordPress with PhoneGap means that all forms of common content management issues can be handled using WordPress, while all you need to focus on is to use PhoneGap to serve this content. As simple as that.
Before we begin, make sure your computer is capable of running PHP and MySQL. You should also install phpMyAdmin for easy management of MySQL databases. You should also have access to your web server (local or remote) via shell or FTP, a text editor, FTP client, and a web browser of your choice.
If you do not have a working web server on your computer, you can visit and download the appropriate distributions/packages shown in the next subsections, for your computer.
Mac OS ships with Apache and PHP. MySQL will have to be compiled to run natively, and this can be cumbersome. If you have limited experience in sysadmin skills, feel free to download and install pre-configured PHP-MySQL packages, such as the following:
MAMP:This can be downloaded and installed from http://www.mamp.info
XAMPP: This can be downloaded and installed from http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
There are many options for installing and configuring your environment. Some of the options are as follows:
XAMPP: This can be downloaded and installed from http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
WAMP: This can be downloaded and installed from http://www.wampserver.com
EasyPHP: This can be downloaded and installed from http://www.easyphp.org
If you are still having issues, please visit http://codex.WordPress.org/Installing_WordPress#Things_to_Know_Before_Installing_WordPress.
Tip
Downloading the example code
You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased from your account at http://www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you. For the purposes of this book, I'll be developing the application on a local computer; feel free to follow suit by installing the required web server and other related web technologies mentioned earlier in this section.