Who Works on Databases? There are several people involved in getting a database-powered site up and running, especially if you are having one custom-developed for your site. They include a: Database architect. This person looks at the type of data you’re collecting and how you expect it will be used and recommends a structure of relationships and fields that meets the needs of your site. If you just want to set up a simple blog, you don’t need a complex database with dozens of tables. On the Read more [...]

Open Source Options If your site runs on open-source software, it’s likely to have one of two database applications available: MySQL or PostgreSQL. MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/) is the most popular open-source database application, and most open-source web services, such as forums or blog software, work with it. MySQL powers many large sites but has limited ability to coordinate multiple database edits at the same time. For a site that has a large, active community of contributors, MySQL might Read more [...]

How Relational Databases Work As a news site, you might want to keep a database of past stories for your readers. You could keep that information in a table that looks like this: Table name: Articles Headline Byline Date Body Dog Bites Dave Barry Dec 12, 2005 Body of the story Record Cold Travis Smith Dec 12, 2005 Body of the story Mets Win Travis Smith Dec 12, 2005 Body of the story This Articles table contains all the basic information you need. The “Headline,” Read more [...]

Part of what has unbottled community publishing is the use of databases to store and deliver content. It becomes clear to anyone working for an extended period on a website that there’s a lot of repetitive work. Unless you have some way to manage your content, a large site quickly becomes unmanageable. Databases are key to managing that growth. Databases are one of the key publishing tools for your site. Here, we look at databases as isolated components – used for specific applications – on your Read more [...]

It’s easy to overlook the task of regularly backing up your data. But all it takes is one crash of your hard drive, a fire, a flood, a power surge, or the theft of your computer and you can spend a lifetime regretting it. We’ve already pointed out some quick hardware and software backup options, but unless you actually do your backups, they won’t do you much good. Once you set up your backup hardware or software, we recommend that you follow these rules to be sure you won’t lose any Read more [...]

A slug is the name of a story or article in the publishing business. Organized naming structures help you with better search engine rankings. Using incorrect characters can throw your server for a loop. There is no difference between .htm and .html files, but you will have an easier time if you select one extension and stick with it because your computer may separate the items within a folder based on file extension and group all files saved as .htm apart from files saved as .html. Follow these Read more [...]

As your site matures, the amount of content will grow. And grow. And grow even more. You’ll have to consider how you’ll archive your material and how to best organize your long-term production to maximize efficiency. Here are a few tips on how to keep track of this ever-increasing sand pile of material. Working Locally Standardize Your Input In computer parlance, normalizing data (see database chapter) means making sure that your data is in the same format, ready to be sorted and compared.  Read more [...]