Website Redo - Follow As I Add A Database To My Website

December 14, 2008 by Curt Siters

Assessment

It has been a while since I updated my portfolio website (pointed out to me by my roommate.) So I figured, OK, why not let people watch and learn from what I do to add a simple database to an existing website as well as improve a few things.

About the site:

My portfolio, is basically a single page. The index page contains an iframe into which page "fragments" are loaded upon scrolling over a link. The links remain active if the visitor should desire to view the corresponding website.

Problems:

The height of the site window is fixed to maintain a certain presentation which was to keep everything "above the fold," or in other terms - no scrolling. The site has nothing that would require the visitor to scroll. However, this has a limitation - the real estate is fixed which means :

1. I am limited in what I can do in my presentation
2. My navigation scheme has to be very carefully structured
3. Each page "fragment" has to be manually created 

Solutions:

1. I can do one of two things loosen up the requirement of one screen - possible future change.
2. This will need to be redone as creating more than one page is a no go.
3. Create a database for project entry and to dynamically create the navigation and the page "fragments". 

 The last two are what I will be concentrating on in the upcoming articles in this series. However, if I find I cannot achieve number 2 without adjusting the presentation I will cover that as well.

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Curt Siters is an Independent Associate for Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. He is also aYoung Living Essential Oils Independent distributor and publishes articles on YourWebReference and at TheVeryEssence. He also does web work such as website design, website maintenance and SEO for websites.

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