Where to start in building dynamic website?

Question

Basically i'v got a final year project to start when i return back to uni next month, i'm repeating my final year so i've decided to get me a head start and have already got quite a bit planned for what i intent to do. Bearing in mind ive complete 3 years full time in Computing at uni i know quite a bit about what i'm doing, or atleast i know where to go to find out anything what i need to do.

Ive always been interested in web design, and so after recieving a completely rubbish mark and lack of interest in a java project last year, iv decided to research in to e-learning and content/learning management systems.

Im going to be creating a DBS consisting of student details, course details etc, il be using php as my scripting language and i was also looking to research a bit into creating and incorporating some flash animations using director MX.

I've not done anything on such a large scale as this before so i'm wondering if anybody out there can suggest the most effective way to begin setting this up.

Obviously i'm looking to keep my work tidy and organised, to buiild on it at stages rather then doing a bit of everything all at one time!

answers on a post card please!!

very much appreciates guys, and if any of yous have any smart ideas i could add to my project i will luv u forever :)

xx

Answer 1

http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/hosting/compa...

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Perhaps consider building a successful site rather than the technical aspects. They are important but if you created a site that got lots of traffic, what could they say?

More importantly, if you monetized it or if you put this on a resume, what benefit could you also realize.

There are a number of theories on how to build a successful site.

One I like is the 5 C's

Concept

You need to build on a concept that has lots of people looking for it but not a lot of competition.

Create

It need to be a content rich site to answer the jobs to be done of the visitors.

Clicks You Need to Get

You will need to do some work to get the traffic flowing.

Confidence

There are a number of ways to build confidence in a site.

Convert  

You may not need to cash in. You still need to convert your visitors into users.

Best wishes

Answer 4

use 110mb.com as your host(personally,seriously,awfully(?) recommend you!).

Learn PHP?

http://php.about.com/

http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp

http://www.phpbuddy.com/

http://www.tizag.com/phpT/

I'll update the list when I remember the other ones which I personnaly used.

Wishing you the best of luck!

Answer 5

http://www.php.net

Answer 6

Using UML define your classes and produce class and use diagrams.

Design your database. Identify all the attributes , data types, and tables you will need. Do a 3rd normal form analysis to ensure that you do not have data duplication. Then design the indexes for the tables, this based on transaction rate/ updates / selection criteria.

Decide on your database  engine, if you are using PHP as your scripting language I suggest you use MySQL.

If you want to knock up some basic code, I suggest you use PHP generator from http://www.sqlmaestro.com.

Alternatively you can code your classes with the required properties and methods.