Updating content... for a non-techie

[boynatural]

I'm putting together a way for someone with minimal technical skills to update a web page. I've thought of several avenues for this and wanted to pose these in hopes that someone could point me in the most efficient direction.

 I'll use a newsletter page as an example. The page would have headines followed by text. The method of updating for the client would be through a form. The form would consist of several text boxes representing the text on the newsletter page.

First Way:

Create a PHP page utilizing include() in place of the text under each headline. On submission of the form the user input would be written to the appropriate include file. Then when the Newsletter page is viewed the includes display the updated info.

Second way:

Create a PHP page that pulls text from a database and places it under the appropriate headline in the newsletter page. The form would, as you could guess, be used to enter values in to the DB.

Third Way:

Use the form to update a database. Build a script to write the information from the DB to an HTML file. This way when a visitor views the Newsletter they are only viewing HTML and not PHP.

These are very simplified solutions. I'd appreciate feedback on whether these are plausible, efficient, or just dumb. =] I'm a newbie so I'm still learning to use the language to it's fullest.

Thanks in atvance for any help!

jaime

[cgraz]

I suggest using a database.

1. Create a database with all the fields you need.
2. Create a form where user submits info to the database
3. Create another form that is the same as above only this one has the values already written in the textfields. The person modifying makes the changes and hits modify. Database gets updated.
4. Make a page where the person can delete articles

Cgraz

[stolzyboy]

as cgraz stated, option number two would be the best solution, and fairly easy for a newbie to understand

[crickettdt]

Db is the best solution, but depending on how much editablity you want, you can use files as well. If you are only saving chuncks of text, such as a paragraph, save it as a text file, and use your html to define the content.

It is cheaper to use files than setting up a db, and quicker. The only problems being you don't have as much flexibility and searchability.

However, if your problems is even remotely more complex than just saving and editing chunks of text etc, use a database.