Poll: Do you use (or want to use) a database with your Web site?
Thursday September 20, 2007
Vote Now
Back in 1999, I wrote an article about data driven Web pages and while at the time it seemed like a really great idea, it wasn't very easily done. But now it seems like every hosting provider out there supports PHP and MySQL so using a database to store content isn't that far-fetched any longer. Just template your pages, add in the database connections and "poof!" a databased site! Do you think databased sites are over-rated? Or are they the only way to maintain a large site?
Do you use (or want to use) a database with your Web site? Remember, you can only vote once, so please read all the choices before you click one.
Comments
Yeah, I always use databases in the background. For everything. Starting from my personal website with a small blog (written by myself) to logging everything and saving data the visitor sends.
So… to me it is MUCH easier to use databases than, for example, simple text files or even static HTML pages
)
Greetings from germany!
Chris
http://www.chftp.com
We have been using a database since the beginning of our website. We started out with Access, then moved to a interface that was designed for us. Access can’t seem to handle the many queries, the amount of products and functions we have and need. It continues to freeze. The database categories and subcategories limits our flexibility, the display based on categories was designed poorly from the beginning, with no chance of changing it. We are going to re-do our website from the bottom up, this time with php or mySQL.
Hi Sara,
That’s interesting about Access. I’ve never used it as the backend database of a highly hit site, so it’s good to find out about the scalability issues.
To clarify one thing, MySQL is a database while PHP is not - so if you’re going to switch from Access it will probably be to MySQL (perhaps with PHP to work with the database). You can find a lot of great information on both MySQL and PHP on the About.com site for PHP and MySQL: http://php.about.com/
We originally used database driven webpages as you are referring to, however, the search engines often have trouble indexing the content because the content is dynamic.
To overcome this issue, I would suggest you have programmers develop a tool for you, as we have done with our Ultimate Websites product line, which publishes your website by taking your dynamic content and inserting it into your templates to create static webpages. Those webpages are then placed on the webserver which people will be viewing. Now search engines can easily index your valuable content. For content that must be dynamic such as calendars, we leave it dynamic.
This idea is a proven method for increasing your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) if you want to retain a database driven website.
Glenn Horning
Ultimate Websites
http://ultimatewebsites.ca
I started using a database when we began developing our site, Sierra Scenic Properties, several years ago, after years of static HTML. Since then I have built another dozen or so sites.
I found the combination of PHP and MySQL so powerful and flexible in comparison to plain HTML that I don’t even think of developing in HTML alone anymore.
I had no idea what PHP was until I began investigating a database for the site. The discovery of PHP was probably as enlightening as the database itself. It is a powerful tool in its own right.
I recently began experimenting with storing certain CSS characteristics in the database, allowing the presentation to change depending on the circumstance.
CSS, PHP and MySQL work so well together that I no longer feel constrained by the software in making the sites do exactly what we want.
I use a database with my site, for a number of reasons. One, it let’s me up date my pages easier, and use one page to display dynamic content. It also lets me build things like a site counter, however, as I get few hits, I don’t display it on the site, I have a separate file where I can view the count.