Newbie at making a database website. Need advise.

[DeadlyNinja]

I've been cooking up a silly idea for some time now, and I want to put it into action. I want to make a site sort of like IMDB, but sillier. It's going to be a database and I was wondering whether I need anything "special" to make a site like this; or will simple HTML suffice? I only have basic HTML skills anyway. What else should I learn to improve? I don't think I want flash because it does take a while to load, but nothing is concrete right now.

Also, I want my own domain, but I'm not interested in putting money into it, at least not while the economy's so crappy. I know I can use ads to keep it going, but how do I approach this? Do I start off the site with ads? Seems kind of pointless since no one will even know what it during the first few months. Hell, do companies even want to advertise on my site at its infancy?

Any tips on how to deal with some of these issues, or any tips at all for a first time site owner.

 

[xatnys]

You could use plain html but it'll really hurt you for management in the end. IMDB has a team maintaining their backend; unless you're really up to doing the entire system yourself it might be better to try out an existing CMS for your needs.

Otherwise, look into a php/mysql based setup. It helps to know both but you're probably only going to have to really deal with the php side of things while your host will likely provide the services necessary for easy database management. You'd still need to have some familiarity with php's database commands. There's plenty of documentation out there - I would regularly refer to php.net's own doc site: http://www.php.net/manual/en/

You might also want to extend your html skills and learn CSS if you haven't already. Separation of content and design is almost requisite these days.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

You could use plain html but it'll really hurt you for management in the end. IMDB has a team maintaining their backend; unless you're really up to doing the entire system yourself it might be better to try out an existing CMS for your needs.

Not to worry, my site will most likely never be as big as IMDB thank god. I should be able to maintain it by myself.

Thanks for the info though. I had a feeling HTML won't cut it. I'll look into those things and learn as much as I can.

 

[Bludd]

Another option for PHP is JSP.

 

[Davros]

check out some pc magazines they usually give away cms programs on their cover dvd's

 

[Acert93]

http://www.opensourcecms.com/

Sitepoint also has a book or two on DB driven websites. Per cms applications I prefer Drupal.

 

[obonicus]

Maybe the 'trendy' choice, but look into Ruby on Rails. It really is very easy to use, especially for simple projects and it's popular enough that several webhosts support it. Just don't drink the koolaid.

 

[Bludd]

RIFE is also pretty dope.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to take some time to look through all of them.