I got started with fanlistings because Koiniko let me freely use her fanlistings script then she updated it to be integrated into Onionrin. The fanlistings SQL was eventually converted into the blog script that is used for my diary (which I unfortunately have private right now).

Often on Github I'd look for preexisting free to use scripts. They tended to be too robust so I'd strip stuff stuff out... Then build onto it. I was learning little things in PHP prior but seeing other's people code helped, especially cause I can bug Koinuko too. I still feel I'm very early in my PHP journey. I still like to build off of existing code bases.. My diary was a very long project.

But like.. I struggled with the syntax for directory reading so had php use filenames for a long time (my archive is named with 2017-name.png for organization). I still kind of like that more for my workflows even if directories work better for most people..

I also think it's tools like Intelephesense help a lot. You can download the extension on VSC but it can be set up on your pc for other editors (I haven't done this yet but I miss her). It is a language server.. PHP is different from a lot of languages because you need to set up a language server to fully use an IDE's capabilities.. Intelephesense takes care of a lot of that but it is not my server of choice right now but I may use it again when I need more robust code error reporting again..

I don't know what you are making, so it's hard for me to give you a place to start.. But I'd go one piece at a time and make sure you aren't overcomplicating things.. If it has a gallery, what are you looking for? Do you want it sorted by year? If directories are failing, PHP can be weird with directories so I'd look at potentially other ways to handle it. Are you making a basic log? You may have luck looking at forms that use txt files and going through random github projects.

Solutions do not have to be sophisticated! And well.. struggling is normal too. I've cried many times over PHP lol. I still do as I tried to improve my character storage script T-T