XAMPP is a great solution for you who have a WordPress site. It lets you build a local server which you can use to create the offline version of your site. It is like a private playground where you can try to make any change you want and see if it works out without affecting your live site in the slightest.

Each letter making up the word XAMPP represents a different thing. Simply put, it is an acronym. X means that XAMPP is a cross platform software. The rest of the letters represent the components of XAMPP which include Apache HTTP Server, MariaDB, the scripting language PHP, and Perl.

Features and Highlights

As mentioned earlier, XAMPP has several components which we will break down in more details here. Let’s start with Apache HTTP Server.

Apache HTTP Server

Licensed as an open source, Apache HTTP Server has served countless of websites since the 90s and has a strong community that vigorously support its development. It has various features such as TLS support, custom log files, authentication schemes, gzip compression, and bandwidth throttling.

MariaDB

The other component included in XAMPP is MariaDB, which is a database that has replaced MySQL since 2015. It is developed by a community, named after the lead developer’s younger daughter, and was born from the concerns about the acquisition of MySQL AB. The purpose of the MariaDB development is to keep it available as a free and open source alternative to MySQL.

PHP

It is thanks to the diligence of a Danish-Canadian programmer named Rasmus Lerdorf that we all can have PHP to support web development since 25 years ago. It is a programming language commonly used as a server-side scripting and command line scripting. While it looks complicated, PHP is actually easy to pick up, especially if you know your way around HTML.

Perl

Perl has existed since 1987, which was around 33 years ago. At the time of writing, the latest update of this high-level programming language was in May 2021, which was about a month ago. Perl is well-known for its flexibility in performing different kinds of tasks.

Aside from the components above, XAMPP also include phpMyAdmin to manage databases, Mercury to manage emails in a local network, FileZilla FTP Server, and a control panel to help you managing all of the components as well as executing tasks such as opening UNIX shell, displaying the active processes, opening File Explorer to access the XAMPP folder, displaying all of the services currently running in the backend, getting help from the XAMPP community, and closing the XAMPP control panel.

XAMPP Free Download for Windows

XAMPP can run on multiple operating systems (Windows, macOS, and Linux). It doesn’t require a high end machine, but having one is surely better since things can run faster. The site that you create with the help of XAMPP also doesn’t need an internet connection to display its content, which is great because nothing can stop you from working on your site unless the electricity goes out. If you find any difficulty when using XAMPP, you can join the community to ask for help. You can click the link below to download XAMPP for Windows: