Need to add usability

[mrjersh]

Hi all,
I must admit - I don't know where to post this!

I would like to add a page where users can submit favorite songs. I was thinking of using a guestbook but what I would really like is to have a very simple form with 4 fields and the entries would populate on the webpage.

Question - should I create a simple form or just use a guestbook (and if I should use a guestbook, any recommendations would help).

I have never created a form or used a guestbook. I have found tutorials for forms, but I do not want the forms submitted to me via email. Is there a tutorial somewhere out there?

I am using my wedding site to teach myself xhtm and css and any other skills I can.

Sorry for the long post.

- Josh

[autocrat]

Well, if you want to display the data, it has to go somewhere.

1) Email to you, you edit the page.
2) Save to file, page loads files.
3) save to DataBase, page loads DB.

I think those are your three main options.

So, 1 is out, leaving 2/3.
You could use a "scripting language" for this, and there are examples out there of how to do it...

You could have a script that everytime the form is filled in, it saves the data into a new file, and then the page loads up, reads all the files and inputs the values ito the page.

Or you could use a DB, then you can either use a real "DB Engine" such as mySQL, or a "Flat File DB" usig JS/PHP etc. (saves thestuff as entries in a file, then reads each entry as a record).

It does depend on the Host, though almsot all offer some form of DB (usually MySQL) and some scripting/language support (php/asp etc.).

There are plenty of little DB scripts out there... look to Hot Scripts etc. You will find examples, and even little tutorials for it.

[mrjersh]

Thanks autocrat. I will check hotscripts. I am using dreamhost, so I have access to MySql. I started working on a basic ruby tutorial, but that will take me a while to learn as I have no programming experience.

- Josh

[martin5211]

You can look self-paced the PHP tutorial from w3schools (PHP is the most easier language) and then you can look feedback and contact form tutorials from Google to get a general idea.
Start using Dreamweaver 8, you can do DB queries easily and another stuff automatically. If you want to set programming as your primarly goal start learning PHP and OOP, use the ezsql class to create DB queries for example.
PHP are very documented, you could find more tutorials than another language.

[autocrat]

Nothing personal, but I would state not to follow ... martin5211 ... adviceo n DreamWeaver - I've found a huge number of people don't actually understand what they do because they use software that does most of the work.

If you are to learn, then YOU learn.
Hell, I still do a fair bit of coding in things like Notepad if I don't have a machine with phpDesigner on it!

By al means use DreamWeaver - but make sure you understand what you are doing :)

[martin5211]

Personally, I don't like very much Dreamweaver 8 because now I have my own style, but I've to admit that in the first two weeks I started to build a social networking site, you don't have to worry very much, and you can focus to learn the most basics things: array manipulation, iterate arrays to display content, conditions to show, hide sections of the website and send parameters by url in forms.

PHP.net is a great resource, almost all examples are very easy, you can copy&paste and see the results, then modify it and apply your idea. For example, the foreach example to read an array and the subsequent examples to deal with multidimensional arrays (arrays like excel spreadsheets). The foundations of PHP are very basic, you have to learn not to see all like very complex.

phpDesigner is more cheaper and lighter than Dreamweaver, it have a great potential but have confussing behaviors: automated hiding of php or html code, and the instantaneous bug reporter, both very annoying for beginners.

[autocrat]

? phpDesigner has a bug reporter?

Must be in one of the new versions... I'm still on 2005's (I've looked at the newer ones and can't stad them).

Still, in a way I guess it isn't the tools that makes people bad, it's the people themselves.
So I guess it doesn't matter what you use - it's jsut my pet peeve of monkeys and dreamweaver ;)