A major reason behind using PHP scripting language to deliver website content is GZIP compression.

When page content is assembled, the web page is created on-the-fly, and PHP can compress all the required data before sending content to the web browser.

GZIP compression can often achieve a 66% reduction of transmission time, which translates into fast loading web pages.

The following links can be used to test whether or not GZIP compression is employed by various websites.

• gidnetwork.com

• nibbleguru.com