[Meta] PHP 8.5 Release Page Design Contest

[pronskiy]

Help design the PHP 8.5 release page on php.net!

Submit your mockups or prototypes for a modern, fast, clean release page and win $1,000 🏆

🗓 Deadline: Oct 22
👉 Details: https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/10/01/design-contest/

Sponsored by @JetBrains | Powered by the @php community 💜

[thisisharsh7]

hi, this looks interesting. can you please clarify how to participate?

[pronskiy]

@thisisharsh7 I added details https://thephp.foundation/blog/2025/10/01/design-contest/

[wladiveras]

Hello, my name is Wladi. I’ve been an enthusiastic programmer since I was 12 years old. Today, at 28, I still use PHP in my projects and have also worked on real large-scale projects with it. PHP was the first backend programming language I came into contact with back in 2012, and seeing its evolution has been a privilege for me. I would be honored to be part of this ongoing transformation.

[thisisharsh7]

hey @pronskiy would it make sense to create a separate Discord channel for this?
it could be really helpful when someone gets stuck or when developing based on community feedback

[ChooKing]

This is only for redesign of the release page? The home page happens to be where the release news is listed. If this was for redesign of the home page, I would have actually relocated the release news to a different page. A major flaw in the overall design of the site is giving release news greater emphasis than what PHP is or why a web developer might want to use it. This feels like a total surrender to the belief that nobody new will want to use PHP and the site is primarily for those who are already using it.

[pronskiy]

@ChooKing Correct, this contest is only for the release page, not the homepage. We know the homepage has bigger issues (like how PHP is presented to newcomers), but the release page is a small scope that works as an experiment: if it works well, the homepage could be next; if not, we’ll take the lessons learned and approach the homepage differently.

[zag2me]

Do we have official PHP brand guidelines to get started?
Specifically it would be useful to have colour hex codes and any vectors artwork for the brand.
Also is there an official discord channel? The links on the website seem to be community ones.

EDIT: https://www.php.net/download-logos.php

[derickr]

We have now created a specific Discord channel #design-contest for this on the unofficial community phpc.chat service.

[KarinCheng]

Hi! I’m a designer and haven’t worked with PHP before. I’m looking at the release page for the redesign and have a few questions:

1. For this redesign, how important is it that the content itself is clear and easy to understand, not just the hierarchy (Clarity of content hierarchy)?
2. Is the main purpose of this page to inform developers about the changes, or to nudge them to update/install PHP 8.5? If both, which is the main focus?
3. What’s the goal of the PHP 8.5 update?
4. How does each change make it easier or faster for developers to use PHP 8.5?
5. How are the changes grouped or ordered on the page?
6. Any reason why some changes are at the top vs the bottom?
7. Are some changes considered more important for developers?

[pronskiy]

@KarinCheng,

1. For this redesign, how important is it that the content itself is clear and easy to understand, not just the hierarchy (Clarity of content hierarchy)?

Definitely very important. This page is both promoting the release and educating.

2. Is the main purpose of this page to inform developers about the changes, or to nudge them to update/install PHP 8.5? If both, which is the main focus?

Both. I'd say the former is main focus.

3. What’s the goal of the PHP 8.5 update?

PHP receives updates every year, so this is a regular update that contains a bunch of improvements.

4. How does each change make it easier or faster for developers to use PHP 8.5?

Well, it depends on the change. The goal of the page is to show exactly this: how the changes are beneficial to users.

5. How are the changes grouped or ordered on the page?
6. Any reason why some changes are at the top vs the bottom?
7. Are some changes considered more important for developers?

Historically on top we put features that are "bigger" and that developers are more excited about. And then the more you scroll to the bottom the less impactful the changes are.

Does this clarify things for you?

[giodi]

Hi, I have a question regarding the code examples: How important are the PHP < 8.5 code examples? Why are both PHP 8.5 and PHP < 8.5 examples shown?

[pronskiy]

@giodi, The reason we’ve included both versions in the past is to make it easy to see how things have changed – what the syntax looked like before and what’s possible in the New PHP version. For some features the contrast is quite dramatic, for others it’s more subtle.

That said, I can also see a version of the release page that skips the older examples. Feel free to experiment with that approach. Just make sure to include a short note on why you think it works better.