Newbie Alert!!! Please end my misery!!

[martinwebb]

Hi All.

Congrats on a great forum.

I'm very new to building websites. Infact this is my first one. lol

I am building a website for a retail shop and the problem i cannot get past is the search incorporated in the site.

I would like to know, do you build the web pages first then incorporate the search engine or incorporate it then build the pages and how do i design the results pages. thumbnails, price etc...

Any help or advice you can give would be gratefully recieved.

P.S. i have done a search to see if there is a thread about this but came up empty handed so if anyone knows of a tutorial somewhere may you guide me to it.

Many thanks in advance.

Martin

 

[Shorty]

Hey there.

Do you know the web programming language, PHP? If not then I suggest you learn it and live at their website www.php.net for a while.

The first thing you want to create is the database to store the items. Then you'll need a page for the owner to insert new items into it. Then you'll want a page for dynamically displaying that data, and a function for searching it.

You'll need to learn about MySQL, the most popular database used with PHP. Research how to perform insert and select queries, the information is out there.

 

[Barrucadu]

And of course everyone at NP in the programming board will help if you get stuck

 

[hollywood]

Welcome and good luck. You will want to learn HTML or XML as soon as possible in order to be able to produce the websites you are envisioning. Down the line Javascript and PHP will be obvious and helpful to you I'm sure.

To answer your specific questions, you have a choice as either approach works. Either you decide to build a database-driven site or instead you design the site where each page contains particular products, prices, etc. The simplest approach is the latter, but your mileage may vary.

From my experience try this:

1. develop the site design in terms of colors, fonts, layout, using storyboards or index cards or cocktail napkins, whatever works for you.

2. develop your content. It can be in a text file, or in a word file, but the text needs to be written down somewhere.

3. decide how often your content might change. If it change much, consider investing in a database approach. If it don't change much, cook a biscuit and relax because you can make an HTML template page for yourself and then just write new pages as you add more content to your site.

Hope it helps ya!

 

[bigtreble]

Try wordpress.

 

[user-7256]

Wordpress is a blogging system... not a search system.

Yes, I would suggest looking up PHP for search. Although, for a site search, you could add a Google search for your site on there... you can customize the search box too.

 

[silentwind]

osCommerce

Try oscommerce. It has a search capability.

 

[user-7256]

Capability, yes, but only install fully-featured shopping cart software if you plan to run an online store.

 

[martinwebb]

Guys,

You have all been much help to me.

I appreciate all advice given and i strive to make you proud.

Thanks for the response and i'm sure i will be calling on you again if thats ok.

Regards