Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have a website that I want to allow users to post written reviews on. Is there some way I can allow people to do this as well as search these reviews through some type of website search engine. I would only want people to be able to search specific information (the reviews) and nothing else on the site. Is there a program or service that does this that anyone could recommend.

Timothy



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I am in the process of building my own site. I have used databases and mysql, but don`t fully understand how they work. I am using a wysiwyg program to build to site (MS Web Expressions),so there is quite a bit that I don`t understand about how a website works. Because of this I was wondering if there is an already set up program, but if there are other ways to do it myself then I would give it a try. Would you happen to know of somewhere (a website or book) that could give help in doing this?





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I am still learning it too actually.  What web development program are you using?  I use Dreamweaver CS3, which works well with php/mysql.  From what I know is that if you are looking to have something affordable and that holds alot of data, you would want to go with mysql and php.  It looks really confusing but is actually not too bad.  The main thing you need to figure out is how you want your database set up as in tables... A good book I have and went by is Dreamweaver CS3 with CSS,Ajax, and PHP by David Powers.  It gives a rundown of databases and how to create search engines and retrieve data.  Another thing is the Sams teach yourself in 10 minutes mysql.  There are alot out there, best thing to do is go to amazon and type in which one you are looking for (mysql, php, asp, etc.)

Also, if you go to www.mysql.com it can give you alot of knowledge of its background.  It is free to download.  It can give you an idea of what you are getting into.

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Have you guys ever considered using Joomla 1.5? Joomla is an Open Source Content Management System that allows you to add content to your web site dynamically without having to create extra pages. It has a WYSIWIG editor in the administration side and adding posts and managing your post is as easy as 1,2,3.
Joomla is a full CMS system in compare to Wordpress. With Joomla you can add a site search to your page with minimal effort.




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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Thanks for the help all. The program I am using to build my site is Microsoft`s Expression Web. I`ll need to do some more reading on the subject. Thanks abodi for listing some resources, I found one of the book that you mentioned that is available free online.

Timothy



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Wordpress blog is a definitely beter than Joomla or any other external CMS. Wordpress is easier and comes with thousands of plug-ins that you can just literally switch-on to activate. Not to mention the vast advice and support available. To see an example check out my blog:-

http://www.hershbhardwaj.co.uk/blog

You might be able to implement Google search into your site. If you have php & mysql set up ( or even other scripting languages ), you could have a simple script written to search for only certain database areas for your results. Not that difficult to do, but I don`t use site builder programs, so not sure how easy it would be to implement it.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons