Basic Design Issue

DPMan

Wanna develop a database driven site but wish to ask a few questions about it. My questions are undoubtedly stupid, but I must ask or I'll just die.

I've read a little about "database driven sites" and I see that if the site is designed "correctly," it would help site management.

But is the pay-off really that great? Won't shoving everything into a database slow the site down much more than simply reading files from a folder and putting text right into an html doc?

What is really a "database driven site?" I am trying to "normalize" data elements for my sight, and I gotta tell ya.... I am thinking of shoving every single thing into a table somewhere-- I'm talking menu items, graphics, the dirt on my floor - everything! That seems kinda weird to me. Isn't that just a wee bit weird?

Why put menu items in a database when you can just let that part run client side?

laserlight

Well, if all that you have in your site is relatively static data, then there is no need of a database, be it a textfile DB or say, a mysql DB.

However, you might have say, need of a content management system, where you wants users or management to be able to write to the pages without having to go through html/php. Then you could use a database as a backend with some forms and scripts to update the database.

DPMan

Hey, thanks for your reply.

Yah. What you've said makes a lot of sense. In fact, I am about to write a site that allows visitors to submit articles that will not display until I have approved them. (If anyone knows of existing code that does this, I am very eager to see it to learn how this is done.)

But is it wise to put images (jpegs), menus (including menu gif items) and everything else in a SQL database? Shouldn't I maybe leave the images on the harddrive in a folder and maybe simply put links to them in the database? (I perhaps need to look up some Content Management Systems and see how its done.) I feel a bit apprehensive about putting all my eggs in one database. But if that is the best way, then I'll do it.

TCN

I think that you have a wrong idea of a database driven website.
What you probably want to achieve, is a content management system. And no, you don't have to put everything in a database.

About the validation of the scripts. Give the scripts a unique, random key and a validited field (so, add to your table an field called validation_key and is_validated).
Now when the user submits your article, put in a unique key in validation_key. then create a script that when the validition_key matches your key, the article has been validated (or else, users would be able to self-validate their articles, that's why the key is there).
Now to display all the articles that have been validated:
SELECT * FROM articles WHERE is_validated IS NOT NULL

Natty_Dreadlock

U ever had a look at phpNuke (www.phpnuke.com)?? It's one of the most popular tools for managing a news page, yet it's no that easy to customize. But maybe its code can give u some hints.

But is it wise to put images (jpegs), menus (including menu gif items) and everything else in a SQL database? Shouldn't I maybe leave the images on the harddrive in a folder and maybe simply put links to them in the database? (I perhaps need to look up some Content Management Systems and see how its done.) I feel a bit apprehensive about putting all my eggs in one database. But if that is the best way, then I'll do it.

There's no simple answer. It depends on what your site is going to be... If you want that a user can change everythink via html-forms, you will have to put everything in a db. If your navigation is static and just your news items change, you might use a db as your backend and output the information from the db using php scripts that already contain the formatting (that's the way I used for my site).
Anyway, you gotta know that creating this kind of site is not done in a week... Especially if you have little experience with that, it will take a long time.

laserlight

a CMS can indeed form a database driven website