Practical examples describe creating web applications in PHP version 8.x. The beginning of PHP development is given: installation and configuration of Apache 2.4, PHP, MySQL and XAMPP cross-platform assembly, choice of PHP code editor, language syntax, the most useful functions and innovations of PHP 8.x. The creation of web applications using the popular Laravel framework and the Blade template engine is considered. Two servers were used as a data store - the most modern version of MySQL and the increasingly popular MongoDB DBMS. The features of creating a file download indicator and dereferencing arrays are disclosed, examples of eliminating typical SEO errors made by programmers are given, work with PDO, JSON, MP3, Curl, MobileDetec is described. Special attention is paid to the security of web applications - it is considered how to protect them from basic attacks, how to install an SSL certificate and how to protect the server itself from trouble.