Here is a list of project ideas for PHP beginners. Learning a programming language can sometimes be a little tricky, having a project helps you to structure your learning and get extra motivation.

1. To-do list.
   Make a simple web app where you could add, mark as completed and delete to-do items.
2. CMS (content management system) for a blog or portfolio (a.k.a very very basic version of WordPress)  – Create a simple login/registration system, ability to add and edit content once you are logged in which would be shown on the homepage.
3. Shopping cart.
   Make a list of products with prices and availability and create ability for people to add products to a shopping basket and then send yourself a confirmation email once a person decides to buy things.
4. RSS news reader.
   Build an app which would get you the latest headlines from RSS of your favourite blog.
5. Basic forum.
   Login/Register, make a topic, leave replies, edit content, delete content. Create different permissions for different users – simple users should only be allowed to edit (not delete) the topics and replies that were created by them. Admins should be able to delete and edit anything.
6. Simple Youtube Player which would allow you to create custom playlists depending on your mood.
   Make a list which would automatically play your favorite Youtube songs. Add a search functionality for new songs from Youtube and
7. Set aside few days to read through the PHP manual and get to know everything there is.
   Pick element by element and try to understand what it does and how it’s used. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make much sense straight away. It is hard work, that’s why programmers get paid a lot.
8. Exercise generator. 
   Create a database of exercises and make an interface to suggest some exercises depending on the chosen difficulty level.
9. Simple image gallery. 
   Create a web app which would allow you to upload images from your computer and would make a nice image gallery with thumbnails of these pictures.
10. Simple reminder system.
    Put a list of things you want to remember and make the system send you an email on a certain time.
11. App which would visualise how you 24 hours looks like.
    Build an app which would allow you to add what you usually do over 24 hours and then it would visualise it with a diagram (or a few).
12. Simple unit converter.
    Kilos to pounds, meters to yards, Celsius to Fahrenheit and then vice versa.
13. Simple game of Dice Roll.
    Build a guessing game where you enter a number from 1 to 6 and then roll the dice to see if you were correct.
14. Simple game of Rock / Paper / Scissors with user interface and game statistics.
    If you’re feeling creative, make it Rock / Paper / Scissors / Lizard / Spock
15. FamilyBook.
    Build a very basic version of Facebook for your family to communicate. Build user profiles, permissions and news feed.
16. Quiz app.
    Make a simple app where you could create quizzes with multiple options to answer and then send a link to another person to solve it and the app would tell how well they’ve performed.
17. Combine any of these projects.Incorporate Image gallery into FamilyBook or add your games to your portfolio.

Each of these projects might take you a good week or two to complete. Maybe even longer – don’t rush too much. Have fun – programming is all about having fun.

I described these ideas rather vaguely on purpose – I don’t want to bias your mind. These are just starting points. Each of these ideas can be built into something very very simple or very very complex.

If you still don’t know where to start with those ideas, try googling for a tutorial. “How to build simple [project idea] with PHP” should give you a good start.

It’s normal to now know where to start at first. Once you feel comfortable, try to make up challenges, convert them into simple problems and figure out how to solve those problems. You’ll be a kick-ass web developer in no time.