I have a static website that I would like to add a few features to and am not sure of the best way to do it.
I would like a div that I am going to add to the home page of the site to contain info from a database that I need to create consisting of quotes that will change to a new quote each day and reflect the home page's new content when crawled by search engines.

I also would like to give users the ability to receive this quote of the day by email by signing up for it.

What is the best way to add this feature to an existing XHTML page?
Do I have to make the entire site PHP or ColdFusion or can I simply add these features.

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

Hi

you only have to use php for the pages that use it. I recommend PHP & Mysql from SitePoint (www.sitepoint.com) as a good starter if you're not familiar with php. I prefer php to Coldfusion.

Also, try XAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html) to take some of the pain and frustration away from setting up php on your PC.

Good luck!

Thanks for your help. Since it is my home page I will want to have its name appear the way it was originally http://www.savantcreative.com Is there a way to do this as well?
Thanks so much for your help.

Hi

when you type http://www.savantcreative.com/ your host actually displays a page such as:

http://www.savantcreative.com/index.html.

The index.html could also be default.html. The .html extension could just as well be .php or .asp.

All you need do is to save your index.html or default.html page to index.php or default.php.

I am actually using a 301 redirect so that the address bar displays http://www.savantcreative.com regardless of what is input. I have read that this preserves page rank and eliminates duplicate content. How would I accomplish the same if the page were ,php?

Thanks for your advise.

Hi
the 301 is used to permanently redirect pages as well as to change the displayed url.

Regardless of the purpose, your home page will have a file name such as homepage.xxx. All you need do is save the page as homepage.php and enter the required php code inside the html code. If your hosts accepts php then its php server will interpret the php code and replace it with the html required after consulting with your database.

The redirect command will have the current filename for your homepage. Change this file as you like, save it as php and then change the 301 redirect.

Thanks. Now I just have to get to work.

Best