Posted by Andy Richards on March 14, 2008 at 11:20 AM
I recently had my website designed and developed by a professional site developer. Except for a few remaining "quirks" it looks to be working well. However, I want to be able to take it from here myself.
I have Dreamweaver CS3 and a couple of books on it (the Dummies Book and the Missing Manual series).
My problem is that when it comes to the dynamic database part, each book chooses ONE of the many available server technologies and formats and covers essentially only that one. My web hosting company (it appears to me, uses ASP.net and MYSQL). I will look for books dedicated to those.
However, every book seems to be replete with examples of company catalogs, etc. NONE I have seen use examples of a photo gallery. I am wondering if anyone knows of a USEFUL book on website building specifically for photographers?
The Asp.Net technology relies upon MSSQL and uses either Visual Basic, or one the "C" Languages. Asp.Net will only run on a Windows platform. MYSQL uses a scripting language such as PHP. MYSQL is typically used on a Unix platform. If your pages have the .asp or .aspx extension, then your site is using a MSSQL database and Asp or Asp.Net. If the pages have a .php extension, then your site is likely using a MYSQL database.
After reading the above named languages, I would forward the question, "Do you want to be a full fledged programmer or a photographer? I would hope you will be able to find a "higher" level language that will compile into one of the above listed languages. Nothing negative intended...just check out the learning curve on some of those listed languages. Many professional website programmers actually ARE programmers and use programming languages that take many years to learn. Once they have built your site, you are pretty much married to them unless someone can convert it or an even "higher" level "language" can interpret and write to it without screwing up some arcane format or code the programmer may have used. Just some thoughts.
Troup
Posted by Andy Richards on March 15, 2008 at 9:20 AM
Preston: Thanks for the correction. My bad. I meant MS SQL. And I am not exactly certain about that. The more I read into it, the more I realize how complex and how many choices there are. My web hosting co is a pretty small company and I can call and talk to them pretty easily. The designer assured me that with Dreamweaver and a "little" working my way up the learning curve, I would be able to work with my own site. They will work with me, I know. I did some more research and realize that I need to find out from them which version of ASP.net they are using, and clarify which database program, also.
Troup: I truly appreciate your incisive question. I see a fair amount of discussion here about "whats the best program, or way to set up my own website." I think your question about whether we want to be a photographer or a programmer is probably a fundamental one that has to be answered first.
In my own case, I do want to be just enough of a "programmer" to satisfy my own curiosity and desire to "DIY." I am not a professional photographer and do not currently have any intentions of "giving up my day job." I have a thriving Estate Planning and Business Law practice and love what I do. I have also been an "armchair computer geek" all my life (but only as a hobby). I learned BASIC and a bit of FORTRAN (that might show my age ) when in college and my wife and I have a PC at home when there were 5.25 floppies and a 20mb HD was "HUGE." I always want to know enough about the technology I am using to be able to manipulate it myself and to also know whether the "other guy" really knows what they are talking about or are just "blowing smoke." I have a number of "hobbies" and certainly appreciate the learning curve is a mountain and I am still just trying to hop up onto it .
Still, I am surprised that there aren't books out there addressing the needs of photography websites in other than a superficial way. I found a couple on AMAZON, but the reader comments suggest they are way too basic.
Andy, I should clarify my statement regarding Asp.Net relying upon MSSQL. Asp.Net relies upon what is referred to as the '.Net Framework', whereas MSSQL is a microsoft language used to write queries to recall data from a SQL compatible database. SQL is an acronym for 'Structured Query Language'.
Andy, since you have a background in BASIC, learning Visual Basic should be fairly straightforward. There is a nice development program from Microsoft called Visual Web Developer Express. It is free. Microsoft also has for free SQL Server 2005 Express. Links below
Visual Web Dev: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vwd/
SQL Server: http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/Default.aspx
If you decide to download these, pay close attention to the installation instructions.
Have fun!
-PB
Posted by Andy Richards on March 15, 2008 at 6:40 PM
Preston: Thanks so much for your help. Saying I have a "background" in BASIC might be a stretch . I took a BASIC programming class in college in 1977! My brain could probably use a good defrag before I try to do too much. I have done some reading on these topics though and it does look like VB is something I can learn enough about to do what I need. Thanks again.
Discussion
5 repliesI have Dreamweaver CS3 and a couple of books on it (the Dummies Book and the Missing Manual series).
My problem is that when it comes to the dynamic database part, each book chooses ONE of the many available server technologies and formats and covers essentially only that one. My web hosting company (it appears to me, uses ASP.net and MYSQL). I will look for books dedicated to those.
However, every book seems to be replete with examples of company catalogs, etc. NONE I have seen use examples of a photo gallery. I am wondering if anyone knows of a USEFUL book on website building specifically for photographers?
The Asp.Net technology relies upon MSSQL and uses either Visual Basic, or one the "C" Languages. Asp.Net will only run on a Windows platform. MYSQL uses a scripting language such as PHP. MYSQL is typically used on a Unix platform. If your pages have the .asp or .aspx extension, then your site is using a MSSQL database and Asp or Asp.Net. If the pages have a .php extension, then your site is likely using a MYSQL database.
-PB
Troup
Troup: I truly appreciate your incisive question. I see a fair amount of discussion here about "whats the best program, or way to set up my own website." I think your question about whether we want to be a photographer or a programmer is probably a fundamental one that has to be answered first.
In my own case, I do want to be just enough of a "programmer" to satisfy my own curiosity and desire to "DIY." I am not a professional photographer and do not currently have any intentions of "giving up my day job." I have a thriving Estate Planning and Business Law practice and love what I do. I have also been an "armchair computer geek" all my life (but only as a hobby). I learned BASIC and a bit of FORTRAN (that might show my age
Still, I am surprised that there aren't books out there addressing the needs of photography websites in other than a superficial way. I found a couple on AMAZON, but the reader comments suggest they are way too basic.
Thanks for the insight. From both of you.
Andy, since you have a background in BASIC, learning Visual Basic should be fairly straightforward. There is a nice development program from Microsoft called Visual Web Developer Express. It is free. Microsoft also has for free SQL Server 2005 Express. Links below
Visual Web Dev: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vwd/
SQL Server: http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/Default.aspx
If you decide to download these, pay close attention to the installation instructions.
Have fun!
-PB