A Database Driven Website

For what purposes? This is how a wiki works..

wiki + PHP + mySQL + Apache

 

FileMaker is not a good candidate for a website. The problem is that FileMaker is not a database server, so it's not meant to handle being accessed in the way that it would be in a website application.

As the poster above said, the best option is MySQL since it is free, easy to use, and runs very well on just about any platform, including OS X.

Also as the poster above said, your best bet is to use PHP to build the site. This will fit in very well with your knowledge since PHP is an HTML-centric scripting language. There are a ton of book on implementing database-driven sites with PHP/MySQL so I would recommend going to your local bookstore, perusing a few books, and picking one that looks like it would be good for a beginning PHP/MySQL developer.

Good luck!

 

You might want to start with something like Wordpress, which is very simple to install and use. You can pick apart the templates to see how html, php, and mysql all work together.

 

a little more info on what youre trying to do would be good, Filemaker can server on the web with one simple click of a mouse, it also can be used in websites, but its not the normal choice for most things, it does have its place, but for instance this forum is run on PHP and MySql, as do most sites I have seen and done, but I have also been amazed at the power of filemaker. I have a friend that is a filemaker wizzard, but he also only uses if for certain things.

DD

 

I have no knowledge of Filemaker, but starting from scratch, found PHP and MySQL would do pretty much everything I wanted.

I've waded through countless appalingly written and badly proofed textbooks that were more confusing than helpful, but Larry Ullman's books on PHP and MySQL were excellent - straightforward, well written and with good examples that actually work (and are useful). He walks you through the install process too.

 

Another vote for wordpress here. Taking apart themes and templates has really helped me get an idea of how xhtml+css+php+MySql all work together. Just get down into the code and try to figure out how it all combines.

In fact my next step is to teach myself php+MySql and that Larry Ullman book looks like a really good bet.

 

As someone who knows MySQL and PHP fairly well, would wordpress be better than designing a backend for updating a site? I'm concerned because I don't want to have to deal with any issues that pop up. I want the site to be a once and done deal.

 

I'm a big fan on Filemaker, but don't use it for web stuff.

Like everyone else said go with mysql and php.

 

Wordpress seems to be pretty rock-solid. Once you've installed a theme and customized it to your liking, there's really nothing left to do but add content, backup, and install any wordpress updates that are released. I've set several non-technical friends up with Wordpress sites and haven't had to deal with any "issues" other than those.

 

Although the best Web solution for the OP may not be Filemaker, Filemaker indeed does have a server version, and it has a web connector that allows it to instantly publish layouts and data to a web server. In certain applications it is the easiest way to get database driven data onto a web interface.

The downside is you have to either maintain your own server, or lease space from one of the specialist ISPs that support Filemaker.

There are also products and techniques for using Filemaker with PHP & other methods. You can also export the data from Filemaker as static pages if the site is not interactive, or as files that can be imported into other databases.

 

Try Joomla or Drupal. Both database driven and highly customizable with downloadable themes like Wordpress, but are more than blogs.

I've found Joomla harder to install and use, but is likely to become more widely used than Drupal.

 

Depends on what you want; I've set up Wordpress to be used as a CMS, and it's not as good as a custom solution would have been. It's great as a blog, but it seems non-techies have trouble updating pages.

 

I am also looking for a similar solution. Have you found anything yet ?

 

If you can make any server, hosting yourself, you may want to give Turbogears a look
http://turbogears.org/
It let you use any database support by SQLAlchemy or SQLObject, the core engine is in Python (that's really a great language, not really hard but a joy to code), use KID for templating (HTML + python embeded) and have some AJAX functionality built-in. There's some built-in widget in Mochikit that go along.

The great advantage here, is that you can access a great amount of library under python for your server and use MySQL or even better PostgreSQL if you doing something much bigger.

But since it's a mega framework, you still can change any layer for something equivalent (SQLObject for SQLAlchemy, KID for Genshi as example to name a few).

You may also give a look at the next version that look even more promissing:
http://turbogears.org/2.0/

 

FileMaker 9 comes with Instant Web Publishing and actually it doesn't require to write a line of code: it generates all the PHP code you need for you but the result is not a common website it is a "porting" of FileMaker to the web.

For your needs you want to take a look of Ruby on Rails (plus MySQL).

Hope this helps

 

Hi. My name is Emil, and i am gonna spare you some hassle.
Hire someone. Don't atempt to learn everything yourself. If you have the money. Hire someone. You are seriously going to waste a year of you life just learning about all the cool frameworks thats out there, and do basic scripting stuff only to figure out later when you have learned just enough that you need a professional to do the thing you really want.
I went down this road myself. Learning syntax, then patterns and spending alot of time doing debugging.

If you really can't afford to pay someone and you have to learn everything yourself, then PHP + MySQL like many sugested is the right way to go. It's the easiest way to get into dynamic websites. Write down a list of what you need to get done, then go to http://opensourcecms.com and find the framework that fits the best. Then stick to it! thats the best advice i have. Learning new frameworks if you don't have a programming background introduces you to too many new concepts at the time. So find one that's in your confort zone and stick to it.

Ive been there. Best of luck!

 

We are driving several web sites with this scenerio. Take a look at this.

 

Need someone to build a website driven database..

Im in pretty a desprite search for someone to design and build a website driven database for my business ... budget is no issue ...It would be a very simple design ... i know enough about PHP and MYSQL to bite me in the butt and i dont have 3 months to work on it (as that would be my speed ).

if anyone is interested and lives around memphis or i guess anywhere in the country for that matter...please email me at studiozach@gmail.com