Database Development 101

Develop a Database Web Site

Integrating a database into a web site can be very difficult, but if you are a technical person, who likes computers and is willing to spend the time, you can make it work. If you are new to databases, and have never worked with one before, you will want to review the  online resources below.  Here are a few sites that may help you out on your quest:

Helpful Sites:
	Web Monkey
	15 Seconds
	Microsoft SQL Server
	Microsoft MS Access
	MySQL
	Oracle
	JSP Tutorial
	PHP.net

When you visit these sites, you will want to learn about SQL programming. SQL is the standard database language, and it will be necessary when building your first database.  Please don't get confused with SQL and MS SQL.  SQL is a programming language and unfortunately, there are many software titles that utilize this acronym in their name.  As is the case with MS SQL which is Microsoft SQL Server.  SQL is not a Microsoft Language, however, it is a standard that most all databases utilize.

Most business and corporate web sites use databases to store information about products and services.  From a designers perspective, database are very nice because they have simplified the way that web pages are maintained and administrated.  For example, when companies first began to use the internet to sell products, many people managed product pages one HTML page at a time.  And when they made a design change that affected the products page, each and every HTML page had to be revised.  Can you imagine how long it would take for a market to update all of their product pages?  One page at a time?  With thousands of SKU's and listings, you can imagine this would be more than a full time job.  But now with a database it has become simple.

Learn More about Advanced Web Site Design

Design a Database Web Site (Continued)

Maintaining your product or content information can be setup in a similarly simple way.  Let us refer to our previous example of 10,000 different products.  If you maintain your products in an accounting program such as Quickbooks, MYOB, MAS90, Great Plains, etc...you can simply create a product export of updated prices and descriptions that will be used when updating your web site with new product information.

If you are planning to provide content that frequently changes, whether it is products or information, you will certainly want to setup your web site using a database.

Most web hosting companies provide database servers and you simply need to sign up with the proper account to gain access.  Once you have accessibility to an online database, you will need to use a server side programming language such as ASP, JSP, or PHP to display the data on your web pages.  This type of web site design can become quite complex and you may require professional assistance when your web site reaches this size. 

Learning about database design will take you some time.  Don't expect that you can learn this in one weekend, or even within 6 months.  This process can be simplified by using web design software such as Frontpage and Dreamweaver.  If you have design questions, please don't hesitate to visit our contact us page.  If you are building your own site or want to find out about the services we offer, please visit our Contact Us page and we will be glad to help you.

Server side programming languages such as ASP (Active Server Pages), PHP, and JSP have simplified this process.  A web programmer can write one page that will access a database to list product information.  For example, when a customer is shopping for products, then browse through a listing.  Each time they request to look at a new product, the web server will send a request to the database.  The database will respond with fields of information such as the product price, the product description, etc.  The web server will take this information and display it to the customer using a standardized web page product template.  So even if you have 10,000 products, updating and managing your web site can be simple.  If you need to change the design of the product page, you simply need to change the one template page and this will affect how all of your products are displayed on your web site.

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