Dynamic PHP Website - Dreamweaver

[Barks]

A few weeks ago I knew nothing about Dreamweaver and little about Website design but I've made huge progress by working hard and following tutorials over the internet.

Question: Realistically, with little knowledge of PHP, could I teach myself to create a dynamic website where users can login and actually change content remotely?

Are there templates for this sort of thing or is this extremely advanced, requiring advanced coding knowledge?

Thanks

 

[Mark M]

Im certainly no expert myself but you need to get away from Dreamweaver for this sort of thing (you could argue for everything to be honest) and start coding by hand. I started out the same as you and found it really difficult to make the jump to notepad++ but once I got up to speed Ive never looked back. Give notepad++ and firebug a go, it will be worth it in the long run.

But I suppose the bigger question is why do you want to want to create such a site from scratch when WP or Drupal will do everything and more that you need? Unless of course its just for the experience and knowledge.

 

[Edward01]

Sure you could teach yourself. The real question is how long would it take to teach yourself.

Obviously not very helpful but depends on your learning speed for this sort of thing. If you've got an aptitude for it you'll pick up PHP & MySql pretty quick. And if you want to build a simple CMS it's really not terribly difficult. Google something like 'php simple cms tutorial' for best results.

Im certainly no expert myself but you need to get away from Dreamweaver for this sort of thing (you could argue for everything to be honest) and start coding by hand.

Yes this. Though depends what you're using DreamWeaver for. If you're using it as a text editor then carry on. Otherwise ditch it and use Notepad++ then once you've learnt enough you can go back to a program that will help quicken your coding, such as Dreamweaver code view or Aptana (that I use).

 

[gord]

As Edward says, entirely realistic to teach yourself from the numerous free tutorial sites out there. That said, find well written tutorials that cover good coding practice and explain security as many will omit them in favour of building something quickly.

DW code view is fine too. I like DW as it manages all of my sites' FTPs.

 

[Barks]

I've started following basic PHP tutorials since the OP and am just using Notepad for now.

I'll try and cover as much as I can today. I taught myself QBasic over 10 years ago so it all seems very intuitive so far.

Ideally I want to design a simple 5 page website but with a function that allows someone to login and change only the content of each page. I'll have a look at CMS tutorials when I'm done with learning the basics.

Thanks a lot guys.

 

[Barks]

I've decided to use Coda 2 on the 7-day trial and liking it so far.

Got the basics covered and now following a 50-video course on building a simple CMS.
It's early days but it doesn't look too hard. The real challenge will be whether or not I can implement it onto my existing websites.

 

[antijoke]

Damn, that coda 2 app seems good. Too bad I don't have an apple device.

Have to stick with my PDF book.

 

[Varsh]

I've been using Dreamweaver in what feels like forever now, it's great if you want to do some rapid prototyping without any security concerns on a local server, but you will want to dive into the code and clean it up as well as add extra security and such before you release it into the wild.

The file management and FTP is second to none for Dreamweaver which, like someone has already mentioned, is still the reason why I still use it along with it's quick prototyping. It's not cheap but worth it.

Otherwise you could always try Notepad ++ or my personal favourite EditPlus.

 

[sist_si]

I taught myself PHP doing something very similar although I don't use PHP on a day to day basis now.
I used a free IDE called CodeLobster. There's a free PHP version and it's really good.

 

[Barks]

I had to put my PHP learning on hold this week as I had to do a lot of work for someone. I know how to do a basic form using PHP but it submits the data by using an email client which is utterly useless.

Is it quite difficult to either implement or create a script that will securely email the contents of quite a complicated form (we're talking a travel clinic form for a medical website and so there's about 2 pages of data) to an email address.

Security is quite an important aspect due to patient confidentiality and so if this is not possible I'll advise that an online form simply isn't secure enough to use for this purpose.

Thanks

 

[aln]

I had to put my PHP learning on hold this week as I had to do a lot of work for someone. I know how to do a basic form using PHP but it submits the data by using an email client which is utterly useless.

Is it quite difficult to either implement or create a script that will securely email the contents of quite a complicated form (we're talking a travel clinic form for a medical website and so there's about 2 pages of data) to an email address.

Security is quite an important aspect due to patient confidentiality and so if this is not possible I'll advise that an online form simply isn't secure enough to use for this purpose.

Thanks

How do you land a job you don't have the expertise to carry out? You should consider telling them you can't do it, but since I suspect you won't, I'll give you an answer anyway.

Theres probably regulations regarding medical data confidentiality that you should consult, but I dunno these so here are some general points.

1. Make sure the form is only available as HTTPS.
2. If the webserver and the mailserver are on the same internal network, ensure it doesn't leave the network.
3. You can encrypt the data, obviously.
4. You could stick the data in a database instead of sending an mail. Sending emails with this type of data seems like a pretty bad idea in the first place.
5. Assuming you've decided against email, design some fine access control who can see what data and audit who views what data.

If you've only just started programming then designing this yourself is probably beyond your capabilities. Find out what liablity you'd hold for ******* this up.

 

[Barks]

Thanks for the pointers.

I have the experience to design a clean, effective CSS based website which is what I have done. I just wanted to know how difficult it would be and clearly it is way beyond what I am capable of at this present moment in time. They asked me if it would be possible to implement such a form in the near future but it's not something I promised as such. We'll stick to a downloadable PDF for now and I'll plough on with learning PHP.

 

[Craig R]

I've started following basic PHP tutorials since the OP and am just using Notepad for now.

I'll try and cover as much as I can today. I taught myself QBasic over 10 years ago so it all seems very intuitive so far.

Ideally I want to design a simple 5 page website but with a function that allows someone to login and change only the content of each page. I'll have a look at CMS tutorials when I'm done with learning the basics.

Thanks a lot guys.

Considered using Wordpress as a CMS?

 

[Barks]

Considered using Wordpress as a CMS?

I have but I'd rather just learn PHP in as much detail as possible so in the distant future I've got the ability to work with a wider range of projects. I don't see the point in taking a shortcut so to speak.

I've done programming before many years ago so I'm hoping I'll have an advantage learning PHP. If it turns out after a few weeks that it really is going to take me a long time then I'll go down the Wordpress route but if that does happen then I should question whether or not web design is something I can do.

 

[Barks]

Just out of interest. I've assumed it's significantly quicker/easier to learn how to use Wordpress as a CMS. Would it be relatively straight forward to do so.

 

[aln]

Learning to code is a good idea for you, but yeah, learning to user wordpress is probably something easier from the get go.

 

[Barks]

I'll stick with PHP and not take on any work I can't do for now. I'm going to spend November learning as much as possible.

Thanks for the advice people.

 

[nicl]

For a good introduction to building a nice website with a modern architecture see:

http://fabien.potencier.org/article...work-on-top-of-the-symfony2-components-part-1

Drupal and Wordpress are great solutions for getting simple (and even complex) things done quickly, but I've found they can inhibit learning because they do so much for you.