Very Basic Web Design Question...

[eRondeau]

I am ready to embark on the adventure of creating my own website, but I'm not quite sure where to begin. I have scanned dozens of threads looking for an answer but my question is far more general than most.

My website will basically be an email exchange database. I want users to be able to add their email address and some additional information from a standardized form, which will then be posted for all the world to see. It must be searchable and a few basic admin stats would be nice. Users will simply be able to click on any of the addresses that show up and send an email to from their own mail program. All I want to do is offer up the database; I want minimal ("zero") involvement on a day-to-day basis. The database needs maybe a dozen fields per record max. Seems simple enough?

So I don't want to reinvent the wheel here. There must be OSX software out there that can do this in its sleep. Without using any big scary HTML words would somebody please point me in the right direction???

Thanks!

 

[oaker]

Well unfortunatley what you want to do involves a database, which goes beyond basic HTML. What you are talking about doing, would require a server-side technology such as PHP. You also would need a database to store user information such as MySQL. To start your journey, I would recommend running through some basic PHP tutorials.

A good place to start learning about web development is SitePoint.

You "can" develop websites that utilize dynamic content and database technology without writting any code at all using Dreamweaver. This list of Dreamweaver tutorials can be helpful.

 

[aus_dave]

I'm not sure I understand your project and why people would submit their email address to the web site - the spammers will be queuing up to get at that one .

In any case, what you want to do will require a fair bit of knowledge as oaker points out. You could try searching for a free directory script at HotScripts and modifying it to suit your needs.

Sorry to be blunt but you need more than a good idea to start and run a successful web site. Apart from the technical side of things you need to think about where the visitors will come from, why they go to your site, how do they find it etc. This is all takes time and hard work to achieve - it certainly won't happen with "zero" involvement on a daily basis.

Good luck with it though, it can be a lot of fun developing an original idea.