PHP Version Differences in Code

Question

I'm working on a local installation of WordPress and a live site hosted on Hostgator. The Code works on the local installation but not the Live site. (It appears to not update the wordpress theme) I'm having trouble figuring out if any part of my code is not working with the most up to date version of PHP.

The part I edited is the line that starts with " li data-cycle-plink="

    <div class="home-slider">

    <div class="cycle-slideshow"
         data-cycle-caption-plugin='caption2' 
         data-cycle-slides="li" 
         data-cycle-fx='scrollHorz' 
         data-cycle-speed='700' 
         data-cycle-timeout='8000' 
         data-cycle-center-horz=true
         data-cycle-center-vert=true
         data-cycle-prev=".prev" 
         data-cycle-next=".next"   
         data-cycle-caption-template="<span class=stitle>{{ptitle}}</span><br><span class=stext>{{ptext}}</span> "          
         data-cycle-pause-on-hover="true" >
         <div class="cycle-caption custom"></div>
        <ul>
        <?php   $count = of_get_option('w2f_slide_number');
                $slidecat =of_get_option('w2f_slide_categories');

                $query = new WP_Query( array( 'cat' =>$slidecat,'posts_per_page' =>$count ) );
                if ($query->have_posts()) : while ($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post();  ?>


                <li data-cycle-plink="<?php echo get_permalink( $id ) ;$permalink =get_permalink($id); ?>" data-cycle-ptitle="<?php $title =get_the_title(); echo "<a style='color:white'; a href=$permalink> $title </a>" ?>" data-cycle-ptext="<?php $exc =excerpt(20); echo "<a style='color:white'; a href=$permalink> $exc </a>" ?>" data-cycle-pmore="Read More" >
                 <?php
                    $thumb = get_post_thumbnail_id();
                    $img_url = wp_get_attachment_url( $thumb,'full' ); //get full URL to image (use "large" or "medium" if the images too big)
                    $image = aq_resize( $img_url, 1000, 500, true ); //resize & crop the image
                ?>
                <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $image ?>" /></a>

                </li>

                <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
        </ul>

        <div class="prev"></div>
        <div class="next"></div>


    </div>

</div>
<div class="intro clearfix">
    <div class="container_12">
        <div class="grid_12 intro-text">
            <h2><?php echo of_get_option( 'w2f_welcome_text', 'Welcome to my website' ); ?></h2>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>