Databasing Your Site
With increasing frequency over the past three months, All the webmasters are in a thought of how they can database their growing site. This article won’t tell you everything that you need to do, step by step. But rather, it will introduce you to the technologies and options available to you in this endeavor.
1.) What does it take?
I’ll start by saying this: It isn’t going to be easy. Unless you have a knack for programming and database design, and a lot of experience to boot, you’ll either have to end up hire a database programmer, or spend hundreds of hours learning how to do it yourself. Before you start a project of this magnitude, ask yourself whether it is really necessary. Is the time and/or money that you invest in the databasing of the site going to pay off within a few months? Could you make-do with a couple of Server Side Include calls instead? Keep in mind that if you want to add features such as real-time inventory status, extensive product catalogs, or personalization, you have no choice but to go with a database.
2.) What are my options?
You have a few options open to you:
i.) Do it all yourself
If you have programming experience in a language such as PERL, you shouldn’t have many problems databasing your site, although you might have to spend a couple dozen hours learning to work with mySQL and design a database.
On the other hand, if you have little or no relevant programming experience, learning how to design a database, work with mySQL/mSQL/Access and program in a language like PHP will consume a considerable amount of time.
ii.) Do some of it yourself, and outsource some parts of it!!
If you’re short on time, and you have some programming experience you may want to consider doing some of the simpler tasks yourself and outsourcing the rest. Be aware though that good database programmers are not cheap. Be prepared to pay!!
iii.) Hire someone to do everything for you
If you have some cash to burn, hire a professional to do it all for you. Depending on your needs, you’ll end up paying for a complete database.
3.) The technologies that you have available
The first thing that you need to do is decide whether the site will be hosted on an NT or Linux/Unix server. I won’t get into the pros and cons here. I’ll sum it up like this: Doing databases on an NT server is easier than database programming for Linux, but it’s going to cost you a lot more.
4.) Links 2.0 may be all you need
Links 2.0 is a set of highly-customizable PERL scripts that allow you to maintain a Yahoo style directory. It allows you to add/delete/edit/approve sites via a web interface, add/create categories and sub-categories, and more.
