If you encode text that contains symbols like < > and want to send it in GET query, be sure to urlencode the result of base64_encode, as it sometimes adds a + (and it's a special symbol) at the end:
<?php
echo base64_encode('<html>');
?>
returns:
PGh0bWw+
A function like this could also be useful:
<?php
function base64_urlencode($str) {
return urlencode(base64_encode($str));
};
?>