learning how to programme websites?

[badboy raggamuffin]

Hi all, lets say I wanted to learn how to programme fairly complex websites,which programming software would I need to get and how would I go about learning how to do it?

Im not talking about the kind of site which simply displays information, but the kind which can take credit card payments, allow users to have an account, search the website or its associated database for products and store information about what they have looked at and searched for, etc etc.

Is this kind of thing within the grasp of an intelligent person who nevertheless knows hardly anything about computers? Could I teach myself how to do this in my own time at home with books etc?

Cheers for any advice.

[mrsurrey]

oh you're going to have hours of fun... :)

it sounds like you want to use php programming code that works with an sql database.

i started with "the idiot's guide to php and sql" which is quite basic but does the job. Then now I've got hold of the basics I use "PHP and MySQL Web Development" as a reference book. Although it's often faster to just do a google search for what I'm looking for.

credit card processors are set up to deal with php - you send variables to the payment page, and then the credit card processor sends back the variables to your order processing page with notification of whether the payment was successful or not. The security is taken care of by using md5 encryption (it's easy and the credit card processor will give you instructions) and a 'shared password' that will stop other people getting access to your order processing page/script.

cheapest way to get setup is paypal but if you're doing any kind of volume then worldpay is the way to go. you also get a slight uplift in sales because people trust the worldpay logo (i've heard 10-20%). it'll be expensive in the first year but you can negotiate with them the next year.

so what's the big idea??? :confused::E

Good luck,

MrS

[badboy raggamuffin]

PHP looks like the thing I need to make "dynamic web pages"
can u go straight into php with absolutely zero knowlege? or do u need to know a bit of html beforehand?

Problem im having is that anything I look at on the net uses loads of jargon which I dont know the meaning of. Need a book or something which expalins even the most basic terms in layman's language.

The big idea? Ive got ****loads of 'em, whether or not they'd make any money and whether or not I ever pull my finger out and get on with them is another story.

[mrsurrey]

well php processes data - that data can be submitted via a form, pulled from a database, put into a database and processed in any way you wish. You can output html code from php and that html code can include php variables e.g. the username of the current user may be displayed.

but html is very easy you can use a "what you see is what you get package" like dreamweaver or I think microsoft front page (haven't used front page) where you design the webpage as if you were using powerpoint and in another window you see all the html code appearing by magic.

just do a google search for html coding - it's very easy and not worth paying for a book. or perhaps even better would be to design in dreamweaver and just watch what html code is being created. all you really do is format text and create tables with rows and columns. graphics are a different ball game and often unnesessary because people are normally hunting for information on t'internet. but of course that would depend on the nature of your ideas.

keep the questions coming though - this is definately a case of easy when you know how.

MrS

edit: just to clarify, php works on the 'server side' and is used to produce the html output. so everytime you want a new page you have to call a webpage, click a link or submit a form. whereas the likes of javascript (or do i mean java, can never remember the difference?) works on the user's computer and responds instantly to the user's requests. but javascript is normally overkill.

websites that use php with sql include facebook and wikipedia so although easy it's very scaleable approach.

[bnt]

You don't need to "roll your own" website from scratch: to get going, why not start with a Content Management System (CMS) written in PHP? There are a lot of them, but one of the better-known free ones is Drupal (http://drupal.org/); more are listed here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_management_systems).

[seacue]

Be sure to test that your web site works with non-Microsoft browsers such as Firefox, Opera, etc, etc.

[amanoffewwords]

www.opensourcecms.com has online demos of Ecommerce open source apps

[badboy raggamuffin]

so could I use say dreamweaver to make the web pages, then use php and sql to do the complex stuff? How easy is it to get the two to mix together?

[mrsurrey]

I haven't used Content Management Systems so I'm afraid I'm of little use on that front.

so could I use say dreamweaver to make the web pages, then use php and sql to do the complex stuff? How easy is it to get the two to mix together?

Yes that will work. It's very easy to mix the two - sections of php code can be put within html. when the webpage is called the SERVER processes the php code and then includes the resulting html code within the main html document, in the places that the sections of php code were added. The resulting html file is then viewed by the USER's computer.

So if you wish you can even create all your html code from php code.

for example the php code...

<? php
echo "<font size='4'>size four text</font>";
?>

... will result in the following html code being produced...

<font size='4'>size four text</font>



for the basics I strongly recommend the Idiots guide to php and sql. just by following the lessons and case studies you'll pick it up quickly.

the reason I say php is easy is because we're just moving variables around from place to place - there isn't much manipulation going on like there would be if we were using code to model engineering designs for example.

MrS

[vindaloo]

I've created a website using PHP to access a MySQL database, which displays products that can be bought through Paypal. PM me if you'd like to have a look at it and the source code to give you some ideas.
Vindaloo

[greywind]

PHP MySql is probably best being free and plenty of online help for them.

As for an ecommerce solution you may be better with an off the shelf such as oscommerce.

Lastly for payment processors paypal is easy to use, also protx is a good one with a very thorough testing system in place before you go live.

I would recommend picking up one of the dummys guides or something similar although there are plenty of tutorials online if you have a quick search in google, stick in something like "php/mysql basics" or "php tutorial"

I'm more than happy to answer any q's so PM me if you wish

(I currently work as a web developer so I should be able to help.)

[planecrazy.eu]

Best way to learn PHP is

www.lynda.com (http://www.lynda.com)
www.vtc.com (http://www.vtc.com)

if you cant afford to pay for online video tutorials there is always

www.phpvideotutorials.com (http://www.phpvideotutorials.com)

There are plenty of opensource PHP editors and many commercial ones, Dreamweaver from Adobe is by far the best, but its more or less the most expensive too, however there is a 30day demo.

[planecrazy.eu]

Best way to learn PHP is

www.lynda.com (http://www.lynda.com)
www.vtc.com (http://www.vtc.com)

if you cant afford to pay for online video tutorials there is always

www.phpvideotutorials.com (http://www.phpvideotutorials.com)

There are plenty of opensource PHP editors and many commercial ones, Dreamweaver from Adobe is by far the best, but its more or less the most expensive too, however there is a 30day demo.

There are many many different scripting languages, there are some that are just universal and can be mixed with anything more or less.

They are

- HTML
- XHTML
- XML
- CSS
- JS(JavaScript)

If you want to interact with a database, and make forms and other cool stuff you will need to know a server side language.

Most would pick one from

- PHP
- ASP.net / ASP
- CFM
- JSP

The more popular one is PHP as there are loads and loads of info, loads of opensource stuff, and loads of freebies, oh and it runs on opensource webservers and most things related to it are free.

You need to pick a database too, most are going to go with MySQL as its free in most cases, unless your a big corp, there is always postgree sql, Oracle, Access and MS-SQL.

My combo would be:

PHP/MYSQL/APACHE/LINUX/XHTML/JS/CSS/XML/AJAX

[windriver]

PHP/MYSQL/APACHE/LINUX/XHTML/JS/CSS/XML/AJAX

I agree with plane crazy... the only thing he missed out was a really good text cruncher like Textpad. :)

Next time you're up at your local tip grab an old PC and spend some quality time installing a Linux OS ( I use SusE... but most will do)

Setup Apache/PHP/MySQL/Perl etc for free...

Then you can experiment to your hearts content in a real server environment before going live...