PHP Development Question

[Paultbk]

Hi everyone, I am a newbie to the forum and I have a question. Lately I have been developing alot of custom wordpress themes and the best way I have found is just to upload a 'naked' theme and use the editor on a test site to develop. I was wondering what methods do use to develop php websites? Do you have a local Apache/MySql? or do you just put it up?
Which way is more efficent do you think? Any input would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to spped up my development time. Thanks!

 

[v2Media]

Developing locally is faster. Running your own web and mysql server to develop on will give you important administration skills. Debugging a php install will give you a good understanding of how php works with a system. In short, make the effort to set up your own development server.