8:11 PM:

Kermix Is (Less) Dumb

Having the latest Apache apparently helps, too. We now happily resume our churning through tutorials.

If anyone who has set up site schemes in a database before has my email address, feel free to drop me a line with some info on how you went about it. That is all. (#)

5:41 PM:

Relational Database Pt. III: Chewing Gum and Baling Wire

The challenging part will be trying to implement dynamic skin development within the DB.

I think that's mostly due to my lack of working experience with massive layout designs and website makeovers, though. Creating a style is fairly easy, but I'm trying to take great logical hurdles in figuring out how to use a DB structure to hold pieces of HTML layouts as well as styles, and that requires a great deal of forethought.

Edit: The concept is probably easier for me to grasp than I originally thought. Since the goal is to somehow automate form, I just have to be careful about defining the rules for each subdivision of the form. For example, a full-page layout could be based on tables, but the template for a single section usually would not (because it would derive most of its layout from the page design). (#)

12:51 PM:

Quick Update: Kermix Is Dumb

It turned out to be an outdated version of PHP. Doh. (#)

4:47 AM:

mysql>

Took the dive tonight, as planned. The MySQL.com tutorial is doing me right so far, with an occasional weirdness. I can't wait to get into the PHP and see how to make it update tables from the web pages.

Right now I'm hung up on POST forms. For some reason they're not sending the info, or the database isn't getting it. Another portion of the page is displaying information from the database, which would mean that it's made the connection. When I use a GET form, it works fine.

On the one hand, I don't know why it's happening; on the other, I have a pretty good idea. Because it's how I sometimes "work": skimming. Not doing everything clean. I'm working on a 2000 system, on which I'd already installed/uninstalled Apache, PHP4 and MySQL. If I'd gone through carefully and made sure the installations were clean, I probably would have a better time narrowing down the causes. (#)

3:52 PM:

"Relational Database" Pt. 2.

This stuff is easy. At least, the part where I sketch out the tables, their fields, and draw lines between the related fields to figure out what is dependent on what. The part I'll need to research is the, um, techie stuff.

Last night before going to sleep, I sketched up the table structures for news articles and a message board. It was deceptively easy; adding a basic journal to the mix was cake. Perhaps when the new domain pops up, I can move everything out of everywhere and roll my own custom journal. Of course, if that's what I want to do. Who knows? (#)

2:28 AM:

A brief leap ahead: why I like the idea of server-side.

Check this, and then this. Those aren't stylesheets. That's server-side something-or-other.

I hope this really is the separation of content and style that I think it is.

I want. (#)

5:18 AM:

Two steps back.

Think about what the site is.

I am now embarking on the largest-scale project I have ever wanted to take on, in anything resembling a solo fashion. Even looking at the structure of a database is jumping too far ahead. No, this is too big. For this, I have to start at the beginning and write myself a proposal detailing all the major aspects of what I expect to see in this monsterpiece.

The majority of the database work will be centered around message forums and news articles, each of which can be implemented by installing any number of free/shareware packages. However, I'm envisioning these being linked together in a single custom database with numerous flags to allow for content that is visible/hidden to certain priveleged accounts. I would love to be able to create and admin such a database, if only to add it to the list of skills that this entire site will afford me in a portfolio and resume. "I made this!"

Writing the outline is going to be a very new experience for me, and most likely a new logistical nightmare in both its writing and its implementation.

I welcome it with open arms. (#)

10:16 PM:

"Relational Database."

The structure of my new project's database is beginning to slowly form in my head, thanks to my beginner's lesson in relational databases in Access. I fully realize that it was little more than a beginner's lesson, as MySQL (or whatever I use) will be a far cry from the graphical simplicity of Access, but it taught me a few concepts that would have been difficult for me to pick up while trying to learn how to program a "real" DB.

I'm going to say "relational database" again. It makes me feel geeky. Mmmm, relational database. (#)

5:02 PM:

Lesson Plan Update

SQL is probably going to become a higher learning priority than I thought, if things go the way I think they will. Lesson Two will require it, and I now know the exact theme of the site's content. It's just a matter of securing the domain (no hints, squatters) and the hosting. (#)

7:28 AM:

Little Tiny Xmas Tree Lightbulb Moment

If a PHP include can stick a second blog on a page... it could theoretically also include other templates... including, in theory, a very compact archives template... which, if employed properly, could remove one click from the procedure of dwelling into archives. Neat, perhaps, in the right circumstance. (#)