Hello, I was interesting in doing a small review site, nothing major just somewhere I could post reviews of stuff I watch, read and play, maybe let the user add something as well.
But while looking at a few sites I realised that most bigger sites appear to be using static URL, i.e. sitename.com/category/show/episode,variable which is used on AV club.
I’m having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around it, mostly because I can’t see the underlying folder structure or database setup.
I assume there is parsing involved but anywhere I look for information only seems to mention rewrites to the .htaccess file. Is that the only way to do it even for a new site where you’re not rewriting the current URLs?
Does anyone have any good examples of the behind-the-scenes stuff going on here? I think I’m mostly struggling because I’m trying to picture folder setup, database and the URL.
Then I realise there probably isn’t much folder structure, it will be all database with URL variables filling out the correct info.
As you can tell, its a little confusing at the moment because I don’t know what is actually happening, any advice is appreciated. Would I just have one page, like a tv.php plus code that processes the variables and access the database and that’s it? Automatic pages with a static url?
Normally, when you see a site with URLs like that, you can almost bet for certain that the site is using a content management system (CMS). A CMS is a set of files that handle all of the database connections, page generation, url writing etc, so that all you as a content editor have to do is paste content into a control panel interface, click save, and the rest is done automatically. Quite how you set up how it will fnction depends on the CMS you are using. Popular examples include WordPress (best for blogs), Drupal, ExpressionEngine, MODx… and so on.
Oh I know, I don’t mind that though, I’ve already built a very basic CMS I use for updating a different site but it isn’t advanced enough ATM for the depth this one would have as you would probably have something like:
Games > PS3 > Game Title
TV > 30 Rock > Epsiode 1
Plus maybe news/commentary on that kind of stuff.
I’d rather learn how to build such a thing for future use but if I could find a suitable CMS I guess that would be ok. I have wordpress installed elsewhere but looking around the control panel, I couldn’t really see a way to work like that above but maybe I missed it.
EDIT: Plus with WP, I think there are limitations to design. I know you can edit the CSS but some things, like a sticky footer, would require the footer to be outside any other divs to work.