In the context of PHP development, what steps can be taken to ensure proper class inclusion and instantiation to avoid fatal errors like the one mentioned in the forum thread?

To ensure proper class inclusion and instantiation in PHP development, it is important to use the correct file paths when including classes and to check if the class exists before instantiating it. This can help prevent fatal errors caused by trying to instantiate a class that has not been included or does not exist.

// Check if the class exists before including it
if (class_exists('ClassName')) {
    // Include the class file
    include 'path/to/ClassName.php';
    
    // Instantiate the class
    $object = new ClassName();
} else {
    // Handle the case where the class does not exist
    echo 'Class ClassName does not exist.';
}