Starting a database-driven website

[hkriffraff]

I am looking to develop a site for a regional alumni group through which a user can complete a form to submit their entry whilst users can search the alumni database based on year of graduation, degree/major and various other criteria.

I am not a programmer and only have experience making personal web pages. Is this something I can learn to do myself in a reasonable amount of time (in which case, what tools should I expect to use) or should I plan to hire a professional (what skills are required...how long should it take?).

Many thanks for any advice.

 

[Dunepilot]

Maybe this post could be moved to Mac Programming where someone could point this person to an introduction to php etc?

 

[angelneo]

It doesn't look that complicated but you have to start asking these questions:

How do you verify an entry from a user?
Do you allow the user to edit their data? (If so, then you might need some form of login mechanism.)
What kind of servers would you be operating on?
How big a group are you expecting? (This would affect the server you choose)
How many administrators would help in managing the data? Would the data be broken down into different groups with each admin governing each group?
What are the admin privileges?

These are some questions off the top of my head. Considering all these, it might get pretty hairy. If you are not on a deadline, you could challenge yourself with this project but if you are doing this on a commercial basis, I would suggest getting more help.

 

[hkriffraff]

Thank you for your replies. In this case, I'd say there's no need to allow users to edit their own data, but as the admin, I would need to edit entries routinely. I don't expect more than a couple hundred entries. I'm currently on a linux-based shared hosting plan.

So what would it take to develop such a system? Are there any user-friendly database clients that can handle all the code needed to set this up on the server?