Need to create a data within a website HOW?

Question

Ok I am totally new to all this I run a website for my local town and want to update it, but when keeping it up to date I’ve heard good things about something called database were I enter information in to a application like MS Access and it updates information in the HTML file this would be great to ender new jobs in the area rather than entering HTML in an editor and changing the HTML file itself what would be ideal someone told me it automatically alphabetically all listing , so I know it is not going to be easy but were do I start?

What Software Do I Need?
What Books Do I Reed?
What Website Do Need?
Can I Smoke Weed? Only Kidding on that one was turning in to a poem lol

Any help guys would be great?

Thanks in Advanced
Kind Regards, Keli

Answer 1

If you have any sort of programming background, you can DIY it just fine.

Finding out what tech you need to know (pick one from step 1 and one from step 2)

Step 1 - find out what database software is already on the webserver (on a windows system, it's likely mssql, on a linux, MySQL).

Step 2 - which languages are supported? php, asp, other?

Then go searching the net for scripts in the language and DB your server uses which you can copy and adapt to your needs.
Or write yuor own from scratch - for basic data add/delete/update and web page generation, it's fairly straightforward and there are millions of examples on line.

If you have php and mysql, the book "PHP and MySQL Web Development" by Welling and Thomson is pretty good. Lots of examples, good explanations, and full projects you can modify and use.
There are equivalent asp and ms sql books out there.

If you are on a webhost with no languages or database capabililties, go sign up for a real webhost. You can pick the tech you want in advance. For a town, your traffic requirement is not that high. A webhost in the $10 to $20/month would be more than adequate (you do not need a dedicated server). Make sure you get multiple databases and lots of email accounts with that.

It'll be fun, but you will work...

Answer 2

Yes, what you want is called a dynamic or DB backed web site. If you want to use MS Access as the backend DB, I strongly suggest using ASP.NET as the app technology. 'Classic' ASP 3 is old school and being dropped by MS anyway.

If you have a Windows computer with IIS (XP Pro, Windows Server 2003) then you already have most of what you need. You can also get an ASP.NET web host from numerous places like webhost4life.com.

Make your access DB as usual. While having VS.NET 2005 would greatly help, it is not required. You can still use any text editor or programmer's editor to write the HTML and code. Or you can download Web Express from MS for free (though if you are not use to an IDE they are intimidating at first).

Writing ASP.NET code to query an Access DB is pretty trivial. You can even use the visual editor to write the code for you.

Caveat: MS Access is fine for small sites, but under heavy use it will cave, which is why companies use SQL Server. I've seen it slow to a crawl even on school projects.

Answer 3

not sure where you are getting your information from. Creating database will not update your HTML. There is content management software like Drupal that allow you to use module based editing of sites and change the entire layout with just a few clicks/edits. You can learn more about Drupal at the link below.

Database linking to HTML is an entirely different subject and could be overkill for your local town website.

Answer 4

To do what you are describing you need to have a web server that includes a scripting language (PHP is free, also big out there right now are ASP, JSP and Ruby on Rails) and a database (or a seperate database server) (MySQL is a free one out there, there are a lot of other databases though).

As far as books, find one that is about the back end technology you plan on using, I recommend O'Reily as a good publisher.

Answer 5

Take a look at Alpha 5 software. It's used to handle a database on the backend of a website.