Summary

Understanding what a web application isand how different it is from a static websiteis only the first step in creating one. Making decisions about server-side technologies and databases all comes down to one thing: what tools are easily available?

If your company has Oracle installed and there are plenty of PHP developers available to build and support your web application, that's likely the way you'll go. However, if you are running a small company and cost is an issue, PHP/MySQL, ASP.NET/Access, or ColdFusion/Access might be more prudent.

In the next chapter, you'll take the foundation level concepts from this chapter to the next level. You'll actually pick a server-side technology to use, learn how to install it, and then configure it to work with Dreamweaver and the Dorknozzle application.