Need some advice on databases

[joshmv]

I'm designing a new website that will be relying heavily on database driven content, just because of the volume of products I will be listing, and the constant changing. I'm tiring of doing html for everything, so I think this is the next step.

I've talked to a lot of programmers, and to get it done correctly is going to be MUCHO money. It's something I'd really like to learn myself anyways, so I figure why not give it a shot and see if I can bypass the extra costs, and have that knowledge in repertoire.

Basically there would be a back-end administration area where I would plug in all the data, and then it would show up on the regular site in a predetermined layout.

I know it will be extremely difficult to learn, but I'm halfway savvy with that kind of stuff, so does anyone have a good starting point for me? Any tips on how to get going would be much appreciated!

Josh

 

[Malfoy]

You mention "products". Are you doing a commerce site? If so look into something like Zen Cart. or OScommerce. Both are opensource and walk you through setting this up.

If you aren't talking about commerce. Then pick up a book on PHP (or insert your language of choice here)and Mysql 5 and you'll be on your way. If you are the only one enterting the data of things to be displayed, it will be very easy ( relatively speaking) to setup. If you are setting it up so others can also submit content, then you have just increased your work by some exponential amount.

 

[joshmv]

You mention "products". Are you doing a commerce site? If so look into something like Zen Cart. or OScommerce. Both are opensource and walk you through setting this up.

If you aren't talking about commerce. Then pick up a book on PHP (or insert your language of choice here)and Mysql 5 and you'll be on your way. If you are the only one enterting the data of things to be displayed, it will be very easy ( relatively speaking) to setup. If you are setting it up so others can also submit content, then you have just increased your work by some exponential amount.

I actually used ZenCart in the past when I had physical products, but at this point it will just be information with a link to another site. I should have referenced it as something different than products.

I'll have to do some research on those 2 different subjects and see what I come up with, thanks for your help!

 

[joshmv]

Would coldfusion work for this as well?

 

[CanadaRAM]

There's any number of ways to do it. You generally have a database, and some middleware (language for querying the DB) and the web page in HTML.

A popular DB/middleware combination is MySQL/PHP, primarily because most web servers support it. You can only use the databases and middleware that are installed on the server, so on a shared host, you may be constrained to certain combos only.

 

[joshmv]

Thanks, I might just use that combo because I know my provider is compatible with it.

Right now I'm reading up on this site:

http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_intro.asp

 

[clockwrkz]

For what it's worth I would highly suggest reviewing the online shopping carts mentioned above. Even for an experienced web developer it would take significant time to re-invent the wheel and create a shopping cart.

OS Commerce, mentioned above, is great, open source, and written PHP. It will give you a good starting place and you'll be able to get a store online quite quickly. At the same time, if you are serious about learning more about web development it's a good platform to start from.