Hi,

so I'm a TOTAL BEGINNER to linux and databases. I want to start a website that will allow visitors to directly input information, like eg membership details, providing the information for other users.

I have no experience with programming, or databases. I can make a website, and I'm pretty sure I can workout how to make a database, but I have no idea how to marry the two together.

this is what I have. MacBook 2.4GHz 10.5, running Ubuntu desktop 8.04 through vmware fusion, and have just installed XAMPP.

Until this week when I installed these programs i'd had no exposure to command-line, so at least now it doesn't freak me out.

OK so what I'd like, is advice on:

1. What do I need to learn first, second ... kind of thing
2. Where can I learn these things (I'm a student, so I'm trying to keep this as FREE as possible)
3. specifically info on getting the database and website "talking"

I've done a fair bit of search on the net, and to be honest, there is soooo much information it's beginning to get confusing. If someone could point me in the right direction I'd be most greatful.

CHEERS

donaldo

Hi,

first you can take a look at the following things:

- Setup apache webserver with php and mysql (XAMPP should have done this for you)
- learn php a very flexible language which allows you to send and retrieve data from your website to/form the database

I think this should help. Also there are many php forums and a mass of templates available which can help you.

In a similar situation I have read a book whose title is "Pratique de MySQL et PHP" and founded it interesting. I do not know if you read French but you should be able to find something similar in English.

There are a lot of other possibilities but most websites use Linux + Apache + PHP + MySQL, all open source and free. This combination is known as LAMP.

I'd definitely recommend bookmaking the websites for php and MySQL if you are using them. They both have lots of examples as well as explanations of the tool:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/
http://www.php.net/manual/en/

You may wish to look at a Content Management System (CMS) such as Joomla! with Community Builder which will allow you to set up an integrated website with integrated membership community.

See:

http://www.joomla.com with http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/210/details

You can easily add additional capabilities such as forums, photo galleries, directories, document downloads, etc. without much work. There are som 150+ extension enhancements to Community Builder which allows you to develop very rich community.

The best thing is that Joomla!, Community Builder and most extensions are free. Since you are new to website development this may be a very inexpensive and fast way to develop your concept. Joomla! uses PHP with MySQL databases.

Thanks all for the great suggestions. If I wanted a challenge I picked a good one, luckily with the suggestions you've made I can already see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel! Loving OPEN SOURCE!!

cheers

donaldo