John, A few thoughts... What software you use will depend on where you host the data. Preferably it is hosted on a Linux box (because anything Microsoft is evil, lol) and you're correct that MySQL will be the target storage engine.
I would read up on HTML for form creation PHP for data processing Javascript just in case HTML isn't able to do what you want.
Usually a simple HTML page with a PHP processing form to store/fetch the data is sufficient, but it really depends on how "slick" you want the interface on the web page to be.
In general, an HTML page, and a PHP form, are created using a simple text editor. Save the file, access it with a browser for testing. Oh, I recommend looking into HeidiSQL http://www.heidisql.com for managing your database. Free and very capable.
Books? I would start with articles on the web, just Google "using mysql and php" which will provide approx 22,100,000 links to some really good resources, like thewww.w3schools.com http://www.w3schools.com pages. Again, free.
And, if you enjoy seeing something work that you've never tried before, you'll love playing around with PHP! (Most website hosting companies provide Linux boxes with MySQL and PHP.)
Good luck and enjoy!
Mike Copeland
John Weller wrote:
I've said before that I am retired but occasionally dabble with databases to help local charities. I've been shown one, a database of talks given by speakers in the area. A blank Excel sheet is downloaded from a website for users to add records. The sheet is then emailed manually to a co-ordinator to be added to a master Excel sheet. A cut-down version is then uploaded to the website for users to read and request further information on selected talks.
This is crying out to be automated but unfortunately my web design skills never got further than Front Page (don't laugh). I assume that it would involve MySQL on a web server. Can anyone recommend some software (preferably Open Source, charity = no money) and a suitable book that I could use to create a suitable website?
Thanks
John
John Weller 01380 723235 07976 393631
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