I have a project that I need some help/suggestions on (actually, it's been
"there" for over 3 years now, I just never addressed it.) I need to, somehow,
make our company website "easier". When I say easier, I'm referring to how
data gets posted on it. 90% of all of our pages contain prices for our
products/services. A typical product/service page would consist of three main
elements:
- a description of said product/service
- a price matrix
- comments, notes and other pertinent information
Some products are listed together right now and this will change (I will be
listing everything on its own page, makes it easier to maintain later.)
The price matrix varies by product/service. Some are small (a few columns,
few rows), others are massive. I could possibly break down the comments
section as well into smaller pieces (service time, notes, links to related
services, etc., etc.), but for now these are the three main parts I will
concentrate on.
Right now, we have well over 500 pages of static information, and it gets
to be a real pain whenever things get updated, or we change our
products/services (some disappear, new one get added.)
Things I want to do:
- convert this site into a dynamic one, where I can very easily
change the layout of things whenever it comes time to revamp
the site into a new design.
- insert all the products, their prices and related data into
a database (which would tie in with the above item, maybe by
means of functions, say, 'function show_product('inkjet_prints')'
and have it create a page to present)
- make it so that those responsible for price changes can make
their own changes to the database, so I don't have to deal with
it every time.
I suspect many of you will tell me to use phpMyAdmin for the latter,
however I need to keep in mind that these people are illiterate, and trying to
teach them how to use something is like teaching a cat how to use the toilet
(and even that has better success.) So, I would prefer some other method.
Maybe a form page that has everything on it (top field for description, bunch
of little input fields for the price matrix, and the stuff at the end), however
I don't know how efficient that would be, specially on large matrices.
I'd like to hear from people with some real life experience doing this. My
whole issue with wanting to do this now is because of health issues. I'm
trying to cut back on the amount of work I need to do.
For those wanting to browse and see what kind of structure I have to deal
with now, feel free. The site is listed in my signature.
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W | I haven't lost my mind; it's backed up on tape somewhere.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley M. Kirchner <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> . 303.442.6410 x130
IT Director / SysAdmin / WebSmith . 800.441.3873 x130
Photo Craft Laboratories, Inc. . 3550 Arapahoe Ave. #6
http://www.pcraft.com ..... . . . Boulder, CO 80303, U.S.A.
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