Chapter 1. Basic Principles of Data Source Design

So, you've been building static Web sites for a while now and you've decided to take the plunge into data-driven Web work. Your main question probably is, "Where do I start?" The short answer: here. A slightly longer answer about 600 pages follows....

Before you begin crafting dynamic Web sites and adding Developer to your designer credentials, it's best to spend some time learning the fundamentals. Whereas the recipes in this book are all hands-on, build-them-today-and-use-them-tomorrow applications, this chapter and the one that follows it is more theoretical. To get the most out of this book, you have to understand both theory and practice.

This initial chapter explains the mechanics behind dynamic sites so that you can begin to see the potential of server-side coding. You'll also find an overview of the various application technologies and the different types of data sources. After you have decided on the application server and the data source to work with, you'll need to know how to connect the two; this information is covered in the section on connections, "Connecting to Data Sources."

The final section in this chapter serves to introduce the Structured Query Language (SQL), which is the underlying language of data source communication and an essential component of data-driven sites. Although Macromedia Dreamweaver's interface allows you to create basic applications without knowing or even seeing SQL, a basic awareness of the language will help you to create more sophisticated applications.