Question

Is there any specific header I should be serving for plain php pages?

I’m not redirecting the user or anything like that and my markup already has a doctype and <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

Do I also need to start with a PHP header()? Is there anything specific that it should have?

Answer 1

header() is for sending HTTP headers. If you’re asking, you probably don’t need it yet, though you could get rid of your meta by doing:

header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');

Remember that header() directives must all come before any content has been sent, otherwise you will get errors.