PHP Programming and MySQL Databases
PHP has many potential uses for your website, either as the main function of the website or as an additional feature. Some of the most common are shown in more detail below, however there are many other uses not mentioned below that I am able to do. I can provide a new website design incorporated with PHP/MySQL or integrate my scripts with your existing site.
Contact Forms
Contact forms allow people viewing your website to contact you, either to enquire about items or services that you sell, to comment on your website, or to report an error they
have found. Contact forms are often more useful than getting people to email you directly because you can make sure that they include all the information that you need. I can
create a contact form requiring all the information you may need, and error checks on the submitted information to make sure that all the required fields have been filled in. The
form can be redisplayed if the required fields have not been filled in, prompting the user to fill them in before resubmitting. Once the contact form form has been correctly
filled in, it is sent to you as an email, and if required, to the person who filled in the form too.
more...
Signup Forms
Signup forms can be used to collect many types of information. You might need
a signup form for new members to sign up, contact you, or perhaps for them to
order an item they wish to purchase from you. All the data they input is checked
for errors and checked that it is of the type that it should be. For example
phone numbers can be checked to ensure that the input consists of only numbers
and other characters used to display a number (such as #). If there is incorrect
data, the filled-in form can be displayed again, prompting the user to correct
or add the required information. Once it has passed the checks, this information
can then be processed in any way you require, sending an email to the user or
yourself, or adding the data to a MySQL database. Another page is displayed confirming
that the form has been successfully completed.
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Displaying List Data
PHP can be used to simply display information from a MySQL database or a 'flat
file' (such as an Excel spreadsheet), such as product details, file/document information or link information. This information can
be sortable by any field. I can create a page that displays data from another
file, incorporating other features such as log in if required.
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Membership Areas
Many websites have areas which need to be only available to people who have signed up, or to people who have paid a fee. I can password-protect as many pages as you need,
requiring the user to log in only once. They are required to enter a username and password, which is then checked against values stored in a database. Sessions are used to store
the log in information, and I use security checks to ensure that non-members cannot access the membership area.
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Content Management Systems
Content management systems (CMS) can be used to store and display all kinds of information, such as website links, news items, recipes or event listings. I can create any kind of content
management system, either one where entries are added by any visitors to your website (and possibly verified by yourself before they appear on your website), or one where entries
are added yourself in a secure admin area. The content is stored in a MySQL database, and displayed on your website. Pages can be included as needed to display, order and sort
the information.
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Guestbooks
Guestbooks are the ideal way for people to leave comments about your websites,
for yourself and other visitors to see. Visitors to your website will like to
see what other people thought of it, and it is very useful to you to see what
people like or don't like about your website. I can create a simple form for
website visitors to sign your guestbook, including their name, email, message
and any other fields that you may require. The form will be checked to ensure
that the required fields have been filled in, then the message and other details
will be stored in a MySQL database. Your 'View Guestbook' page will display all
guestbook entries, most recent first.
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Bulletin Boards and Forums
Forums can be used to create a community on your website, where users can post
messages to each other. These messages can be read by anyone who has access to
the forum, and are sorted into topics. I can install a forum on your website,
starting with pre-written forum scripts (as writing a complex forum script from
scratch would be a lot of work to make something unoriginal). I can personalise
the forum to your requirements, for example incorporating to the forum log in
with website log in so that members only have to log in once to access both areas.
Further Information
If you are interested in one of the features shown or anything else, please contact me for more information.