I've been hearing a lot about database design, but I haven't heard anything that would make me want to develop a site using it. Our sites are normally content driven and content rich sites. We try to stay away from lots of neat graphics unless they add to the content of the web site. If we develop a site that is going to change a whole lot, we'll do it using the Dreamweaver template feature and just code straight HTML into the template. If it's going to change a lot, then we'll just update and then upload. This doesn't take a lot of time, because we're using the template feature.
My question is. If you were a programmer, trying to sell me on using your database design for one of my sites that I currently maintain, what would you say? And how could it help me on future sites that I am working on, specifically a web portal for golfers vacationing in Hawaii and a Hawaiian Interests bookstore?
Right now, the only area where I could see this type of design being an issue is with e-commerce and real time product inventories. Am I right, and where should I go to start?
Any and all posts are greatly appreciated, as I'm curious whether or not I should dive right into learning these languages.
Thank you very much,
Mike Newbern
------------------ http://www.CandMWebDesign.com - The best in web site design, maintenance, marketing, and development
you might want to use one for dynamic content, interactivity or because it really DOES save time in the long run. I am in the process of switching my site over to a database design and it is much easier to handle now.
Thank you for your response. Can you be a little more specific? How does is save you time in the long run?
W/the DW2 template feature, I can just update a template file and DW2 will update all of my files that are based on that template. However, content specific to that page has updated on that page. Will a database allow me update content without touching the page? And then would I only need to upload the database to update the content on that page?
I can see how this would be beneficial for pages that share similar content, but are based on different templates.
Thanks again,
Mike
------------------ http://www.CandMWebDesign.com - The best in web site design, maintenance, marketing, and development
If your site is small then using a template format can be easy for you. Once your site gets to 500, 1000 or more pages then updating and re-uploading is going to become time consuming. Now consider storing your contents in a database and accessed by one of many various means. Now when you change your interface you only have to change one file and upload one file to have it change thousands instantly. Ok now consider that you want to make your site available to users with PDA's, Cell Phones or even blind users. If your webpage is contained in static html you will have to create new pages for each and every device you wish to support. Now your maintenance is multiplied by (Time to edit templates * Number of Devices + Upload time * No. of pages). So if you have 1000 pages in your website and are supporting 10 different devices you have to update and upload 10,000 pages for every interface update. Imagine the average page is 10K in size. Now your up to uploading 100,000K or roughly 100 megabytes for every update in the interface.
Now enter a database. You have 10 templates (one for each device). With a user agent detection script you send them to the right template and all the content is pulled out of the database and formatted on the fly. no when you make a change you only have to upload 10 files or 100K.. You decide which is a better use of time.
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Wayne Luke
The Majormud Encyclopedia - www.bloodquest2.com
Come Play one of the hottest games on the net.
I personally have decided to start learning and using the Tango Rapid Development System from Pervasive Software ( http://www.everyware.com/ ). This is the same company that created BTrieve which is an industry standard for databasing and is currently in use on millions of machines worldwide predominantly in legacy financial applications.
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Wayne Luke
The Majormud Encyclopedia - www.bloodquest2.com
Come Play one of the hottest games on the net.
[This message has been edited by wluke (edited January 05, 2000).]
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