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ralf_the_cat
11-22-2003, 11:53 AM
Hi,
A question from a newbie: I’m looking for a dynamic website solution and I’d like to know if I’d need to invest in learning php or if there is a simpler option for the following case.

What I want to achieve: I want operate many sites - a cluster of interlinked sites. The sites are going to be basically about the same thing but each site must be unique in terms of page weight, content and appearance to avoid setting of any duplication alarms. I don’t want to write or maintain each of them one by one. I want to manage these sites from a central location without them appearing as duplicates to search engine spiders or to passing human inspectors. On top of that, it would be ideal if there was an automatic system for keeping the sites fresh (new content constantly) and for me to publish addition content/pages across the cluster in one action.

How I guess I could achieve it: I guessed that a combination of different looking templates, different external css files and dynamic content sections mixed up across the multiple sites could do the trick.

I would make each template and css file by hand I guess but the navigation would need to be generated dynamically for me to be able to add new pages or links to new sites across the cluster.

The content would need to be generated dynamically. Each site would have pages about the same topics that I could make unique by creating long pages from multiple paragraph sections. If I had say 20 paragraphs written on a topic each page could grab 5 of them randomly to create multiple unique pages about one topic. Periodically, the site could refresh by grabbing the 5 paragraphs randomly again.

How ambitious is that? Can you point me in the right direction?: I’m not a programmer, I’m a designer who knows html. I’m willing to invest in learning what’s required to achieve this – php or whatever, but I’m looking for the simplest solution (I’d rather not invest in learning to program if I don’t have to). I’m wondering how difficult something like that to would be to do... am I going to need to invest in developing a full on programming understanding to achieve this or would it be fairly simple (somewhat as easy as learning html)? Is php the best choice for achieving this as easily as possible? Do you know of any existing simpler products, technologies, systems or services I could use instead (php was just my first guess).

Thanks

Sexay_Hamster
11-22-2003, 01:40 PM
yes php can do what u explained :D

i like php to cuz theres a function for just about anything and it is very straitforward and easy to understand :D

gizmo
11-22-2003, 02:04 PM
May I congratulate 'ralf_the_cat' for such a clearly defined and well laid out definition of his problem. It makes such a pleasnt change from the 'help wanted' types.:)

pyro
11-22-2003, 03:53 PM
Barring any pre-built solution that does just what you are asking for, I'd say you are going to need to learn PHP. PHP is indeed a good tool for this job. It is fairly easy to learn, very powerful, and interacts well with MySQL (and other) databases.

johnalphaone
11-23-2003, 07:20 AM
Whilst agreeing with the last post I would caution against expecting quick results. The great thing about PHP is the rich library of functions that go with it. The downside, of course, is that it takes a while to find your way around these and to get them working to do the things that you want to do. Add this to the process of learning the language and learning the fundamentals of programming.

If you have the time and energy to devote to this then go for it. If not then consider collaboration with (or subcontracting to) an experienced PHP developer.

pyro
11-23-2003, 09:52 AM
Very true. I did not mean to make it sound like one could learn the entirety of PHP in a week or a month. I've been using PHP for nearly a year, and have much more to learn...