Hello All,

 

I am a 62 year old with some self learned experience. I have used Dreamweaver 4 for my website building but need some guidance with my next step.

 

The website in question is www.nazeinghackers.com which is a datadase drive website for a golfing society. It uses an Access DB and therefore a windows server to host it. I found the database design and querying so easy in access. It now holds a lot of history.

 

I would like to convert it (re-write it) to a "normal" database website but do not know my best way forward. I am confused as to which way i should go to best do the job.

 

I am in no way a coding person, I can sometimes understand and alter bits. I am really looking for the tools or software to help me, much as i had with DW.

 

I hope you get the gist of my dilemma.

 

I realise this may not be the best section for my post, but it is my first.

 

kind regards

Lindsay

 

I am a designer so might be giving you completely the wrong reply, but as far as I am aware most databases are using mysql, although not all. What you would be looking for is a migration tool to convert from access to mysql I am assuming so I have found this for you http://www.bullzip.com/products/a2m/info.php

 

(that site also has other programs for convert to some other ones too from what I can see)

Like Fuzzy said MySQL is the most popular database for web servers. But these servers are Linux servers and your site is coded in ASP which I think only can run on a Windows server.

It is possible to install MySQL on a Windows server but I'm not sure if you can connect to it with ASP. Most modern Windows hosted sites today uses Microsoft SQL Server

My fear is working with the database. Access is quite easy to manipulate for a non coder.

The website has about 10 tables and are all related in some way. I update my database and upload the whole thing to the website.

I know that needs to change, I can use any server, that is of little importance.

I will give anything a try, but don't know where to start. Should I learn php/MySQL, do I look at Drupal,joomla or some other way.

I really am looking for a nudge in some direction from those of you with the experience.

Thank yo

MySQL is defiantly the way forward, I think the MySQL workbench would help a lot in enabling you to visualise what the database looks like and how the tables connect with each other.

 

Best thing to do is play to your strengths, if you're using asp, maybe look at developing in asp.net, this can be done in either VB.net or C#. VB.net would probably be easy for you to work with as it's very similar to asp, although many would argue that C# is better. Anyway, you can connect to just about any db with .net, including Access, MySQL and MS SQL. You will need a Windows server for this as .net doesn't run well on Linux. If you go down this route I'd recommend looking at Entity Framework in .net it's amazing!!!

 

If you fancy a complete change then PHP and MySQL is equally as good, if not better?

I also like PHP as it feels more intuitive to work with.

C# is a very powerful but also very stict language: You have to import several packages to use the most basic API functions. You have to declare datatypes for all vars, and should you need a colection of vars you need to decide whether to use an Array, an ArrayList or just a List. All these hurdles are of cause there to optimize performance and prevent errors and compiled C# code is extremly fast. But for the standard web application C# feels like overkill.

However .NET certainly has some nice features first and foremost the ability to evaluate HTML elements at the server and manipulate them before the are passed to the client. That allows you to reference the elements directly in your C# code (just like you do with JS) rather than have to concatenate scripting with mark up, like you would in PHP.

Edited October 21, 201510 yr by Nillervision

Just to add a spanner to the works NoSql databases like Redis, Mongo and so on are also very popular, there's no go to for all situations, when you need relations MySql is very capable, but when you're storing key value pairs (actually it's possible to have basicrelations in noSQL) then something like Redis will run a LOT faster than a mySQL database.

 

It all depends on what you want out of it. Many of the big services use a combination of mySQL and NoSQL database structures, times have moved on from the MySql for everything.

 

PHP is certainly far better than ASP, but again it's not the only thing, there's also Python, Ruby, Java. Also Node.js if you want things to be really fast due to it's async capabilities.

Edited October 22, 201510 yr by rbrtsmith

Many big tech companies use them. I don't think it's good advice to say steer clear from them - unless you are talking about the specific use case of the OP.

I was speaking more in general than this specific case.

PHP is certainly far better than ASP...

Everything is is better than Classic ASP (BTW ASP is not a language but a framework powered by different scripting languages so it can't really be compared to PHP)

In general comparing web technologies is a bit like comparing apples and pears. Also sometimes less is more (Ruby on Rails' popularity is a good example of that)

@@Lgwarren I do however agree with the majority here that PHP/MySQL is a good bid, if you are willing to learn a new language.

Edited October 22, 201510 yr by Nillervision

Thank you guys for your views. I have been away and this is my first chance to respond.

I currently use CS4 Dreamweaver and Access. Its all I know and I need to get involved in very little or no coding.

I guess that I am going to need to learn all over again and take your advice and go php/mysql.

Is report writing pretty easy with mysql?