New site design question

[dartman]

I'm working on a new site that will be a catalog of used sports equipment.

Looking to let the user browse either by state or type of equipment (i.e. bowling)

Suggestions on the most efficient way to set this up appreciated.

Thanks

[dartman]

Originally Posted by dartman

I'm working on a new site that will be a catalog of used sports equipment.

Looking to let the user browse either by state or type of equipment (i.e. bowling)

Suggestions on the most efficient way to set this up appreciated.

Thanks

bump

If there is a better place to post this thread please let me know.

[DaveSawers]

You could perhaps be a little more specific with your question.

The best way to set it up is with a database!

[dartman]

Originally Posted by DaveSawers

You could perhaps be a little more specific with your question.

The best way to set it up is with a database!

ex - you are shopping for a used pinball game

I would like to give the user the option to view all games in list format or
view games by state.

Was thinking some type of database but I'm not familiar with how a database
is incorporated into a website. If you have a reference where I could
research this it would be appreciated.

[DaveSawers]

Database for sure. MySQL is a good place to start. W3Schools is a good place to start learning MySQL. You will also need a server side programming language and for that I would suggest PHP. Both are covered here: PHP MySQL Introduction

[nickyoung]

Many things run off databases that you might not realize. This very discussion forum runs off a database. Most content management systems run off databases. Blogs run off databases. It's a way to store data in a structured way, and maintain relationships between different types of data, while eliminating redundancy. You may not know all the details on how to manage or run one, but you definitely should know a little about what they are used for.

If I could explain in a few words....here is an example,

====================

Database Name = SportsShopLtd

Tables in Database = user, cart, order, product, category

Each table contains fields/columns...The table called "user" contains several fields = user_id, user_name, user_email, user_password, etc...

Every new user that signs up, gets their details stored in the database "user" table.

The same user logs in and adds 5 items to the shopping cart, and those get stored in the database also...these items are matched thanks to user_id which not only exists in the user table, but is also located inside the cart table. This is how we create relationships - using Primary Key (PK) and Foriegn Key (FK).

When the user places an order on these items, the order table gets populated with details of the order, along with the user_id that identifies who placed the order.

User leaves site...

When the user comes back to the site 1 month later, we can show them their past orders because we stored all that data in the database.

======================

Does this help?

[srblogger]

I would use Dreamweaver for the site design and design pages that utilize CSS design and for the shopping cart, I recommend Miva Merchant.

[sushil]

I am using PHP to design a website and still i am making website. i think PHP is best but sometime used dreamweaver
by tham i can save my enough time.

[srblogger]

Yes, you can create .php files with Dreamweaver. I highly recommend it, but a knowledge of programming will be quite helpful.