What You Need to Know About Database Driven Websites

Static websites are slowly fading into the history books. These are sites whose content is stored in a web file system. Such websites don’t change as often and are usually referred to as brochure websites since the information is presented in the same way. A database driven website, also known as a dynamic website, is a website where the files are stored in a database. This allows for more flexibility and easier management.

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A while back, database driven websites were only considered for larger websites. This is no longer the case. The benefits of this type of website have attracted developers to it. This is especially so when considering it enables you to collect, display and also manipulate the data quickly and easily. There is no longer the need to hire a web programmer to make changes as it is the case with the static website. You can learn more about a database driven website on the article posted on business2community.com titled 5 Important Points about Database Driven Website. The purpose of this post, however, is to help you understand why you should consider creating a dynamic site.

Advantages of a dynamic website

With the database driven website, the content is not hard coded into the HTML file. The content is stored in a database then delivered to the web pages. This gives more flexibility since the content is stored in one central location. When the content in the database is altered, the changes are reflected on the web pages. This is a great advantage since you don’t need to manually manage individual web pages. All you need is in-house or remote DBA experts to help with database management.

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What is suitable for your database?

Any information that can be delivered on a web page is ideal for your database. However, there are certain information that is better suited:

• Price lists
• Product inventories
• Phone lists and address
• Content that is required to appear in different places of your website such as blog articles and press releases

The above information can be displayed on static websites. However, it will be impractical to do this if you regularly change the information or if your website is too big. A database driven website helps save time when updating web content.

Types of database driven sites

• CMS (content management systems)

Any website that uses a content management system is a dynamic website. The CMS makes it easy for users to update content through the administrative area. No web programming is needed to make changes.

• Community forums and blogs

Most of the blogs and community forums are database driven. That is why they are easy to update.

• Ecommerce websites

The ecommerce sites are the perfect examples of database driven sites. Their information can be changed with ease to keep it up-to-date. These sites are both scalable and flexible.

The benefits of having a database driven website are innumerable. Top on the list is that these websites are easy to edit. No programming skills are needed for you to update your content. It is also possible to add social elements, such as community forums and blogs.

This guest post was written by Ivan Tacke, a business analyst and a senior HR consultant for a leading communications firm. He has spearheaded use of task management and time management apps for operational efficiency. Visit Clockspot.com and Zapier to learn more on getting things done.