What potential challenges or complexities may arise when trying to automatically update a countdown timer using PHP on a website?

One potential challenge that may arise when trying to automatically update a countdown timer using PHP on a website is ensuring that the timer accurately reflects the current time on the server. This can be complicated by factors such as server-side caching, time zone differences, and user interactions that may affect the timer's accuracy. One way to address this issue is to use JavaScript to update the timer on the client-side, while periodically checking the server time to ensure synchronization. 

<?php
// Get the current server time
$server_time = time();

// Pass the server time to JavaScript for client-side countdown
echo "<script>var serverTime = $server_time;</script>";
?>

Keywords

JavaScript AJAX setInterval server-side time synchronization

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