What Web Tools do I need ?

[nurquhar]

I want to build a web application that allows users to interactivly build a simple graphic design. What I need is the user to do is log into my web page with a user name and password and then design a coloured grid on screen.

This grid would be basiclly a simple graphic with horizontal and vertical lines. By clicking on some control box at the end of each line the user can change the colour of the line displayed. So in effect they are design a multicoloured "tartan" pattern on a web page. My intention is to store the design in file or simple database and then get the web server to FTP the design to an embedded control system. This control system will then re-display the design on a hugh grid of Neon Lines. I can make the neon appear to be most any colour by controlling the brightness of three adjacent Red, Green and Blue lines.

Now I am fairly experienced (my first computer was Commadore 8K PET) in a range languages like C/C++, PL/SQL, CORAL66, PRO-IV and differntent hardware such as PC's, Unix boxes and embedded systems. What I don't know much about is developing web sites. I twiddled with a little bit of HTML and built my own simple site with FrontPage.

I could happily build an app to do the above in MS Visual C++ on a PC and do all the FTP etc, but I don't know how turn it into a web page sat on a web server.

Does anyone have any suggests as what web development tools I should get ? I don't want to waste my time learning stuff I don't need. Also, and perhaps this should be the subject of another post, what type of web sever would be best for me ? ie should I build myself a Linux or Server2003 box ?

Any pointers for the right way to go would be very gratfully recieved.

[ray326]

There are a number of ways you could build the application including pure HTML, CSS and Javascript. You could also do it as a Java or Flash applet, the former being the cheaper way to go. The back end could be done very well very cheaply with an Apache/MySQL/PHP setup on Linux or Windows but the glue code would be easier for me to do on Linux. YMMV

[nurquhar]

So can I call basic graphics procedures from all these all of these technologies or just some of them (HTML,CSS,Javascript)? Can I do the following sort of pseudo code :

colour(data[0]) ;
move(50,50) ;
line(150,50) ;
colour(data[1]) ;
move(50,150) ;
line(150,150) ;

Neil

[ray326]

You can do that in Javascript but it will be easier in an applet. I.e. in an applet you will be able to draw a line between arbitrary end points but in the unenhanced browser the lines will be horizontal/vertical.

[nurquhar]

Would Studio8 be good product for me to look at ? It seems to have dreamweaver for most of the website stuff and something called Flash Pro 8 which looks like something I could use to do the graphical stuff with. What do you think ? Perhaps its a bit of overkill but is it quicker/better to work within a coordiante software suite If my experience of web develpment is very limited.

[ray326]

That would work.