Many twists and turns have been encountered since the Summer, but the online version of Zend Framework: Surviving The Deep End has escaped into the wild with the release of Chapter 1. The online book is hosted at http://www.survivethedeepend.com.

Chapter 1, the Introduction, is first on the menu to open the new year. The next chapter should turn up within a few days and then we’ll see about scheduling regular chapter releases. It should be noted the new website is still a work in progress and I have a few features in testing to bring it to completion and fix some final design wishes I had, but the main feature I’m pleased to have added is an inline comment system. You may now comment on (or complain about) each paragraph individually using the jQuery powered comment system. Every paragraph has an unobstrusive link next to it showing the current number of comments for that paragraph – clicking the link shows all existing comments for that paragraph and a comment form to add another.

As many of you know, the book is available online without charge. If you are feeling generous in the coming weeks I am accepting donations. I promise that Steve Jobs will appreciate the gesture when I buy that new Macbook Pro :) . Obviously a chunk of any donations will also vanish into the coffers of Slicehost.com where the book is being hosted on their excellent VPS offering.

Let me know your thoughts, and post any general comments or questions on the book or website here. I’ll be adding a general end-of-page comment system to the mix during the next day or two so posting general comments here is a temporary stopgap.

Huge thanks to all my readers and PHP acquaintances who kept me motivated :) .