site designs and redesigns by BuzzNet, a service of BuzzWords

Programming
PHP and MySql can do wonders for your site
By combining the power of a database and a programming language, this dynamic duo can make your site truly dynamic. Among the advantages:
  • Content is separated from the complex code that dictates page design and structure. This arrangement enables a lay person to add new content to a site by entering plain text into a simple web form.
  • Queries to the database can produce a wide array of results as well as computations.
  • Archive systems for articles, product catalogs and shopping carts all become easier to search, update and maintain.
    • See by example
    The best way to understand and appreciate the power of a database-driven site is to see the difference it makes to an actual web site. A perfect example is one I redesigned for the Gulf Coast Running Club.

    What you're about to see if you follow the link below is a page with links to the old and the new race results pages. The older links at the bottom of the page take you to jpeg image files. Let me explain why. After each race, the race director would type the results on a word processor, print them out and arrange the output by cutting and pasting. He then would send the results sheet to the web designer, who would scan it as a jpeg, upload the image to the web server and create a link to it on the race results web page.

    Now, thanks to a set of programs that connect to a database on the host web server, all the race director has to do is type the results into a form he accesses with Internet Explorer, and when he's done, the results are live and displayed on the site for the world to see. Take a look for yourself.

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