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An Introduction

Traditional "Static HTML" vs. "Database-Driven" Websites

Static HTML once ruled the web...

When the web was young, an experienced HTML programmer "hard-coded" all web pages in the HTML programming language. Typically, a client would pay an hourly-programming fee plus "maintenance" fees plus an additional hourly programming fee every time a change needed to be made. With the advent of more capable HTML authoring programs (i.e., Dreamweaver, GoLive and others), HTML programming became easier, and to a lesser degree, so did the maintenance of the site's hierarchical structure of hyperlinks, but even today these authoring programs are cumbersome and time intensive to use, prone to errors, and of limited appeal to busy people who are simply trying to best convey their marketing message online without a lot of effort.When the web was young, an experienced HTML programmer "hard-coded" all web pages in the HTML programming language. Typically, a client would pay an hourly-programming fee plus "maintenance" fees plus an additional hourly programming fee every time a change needed to be made. With the advent of more capable HTML authoring programs (i.e., Dreamweaver, GoLive and others), HTML programming became easier, and to a lesser degree, so did the maintenance of the site's hierarchical structure of hyperlinks, but even today these authoring programs are cumbersome and time intensive to use, prone to errors, and of limited appeal to busy people who are simply trying to best convey their marketing message online without a lot of effort.When the web was young, an experienced HTML programmer "hard-coded" all web pages in the HTML programming language. Typically, a client would pay an hourly-programming fee plus "maintenance" fees plus an additional hourly programming fee every time a change needed to be made. With the advent of more capable HTML authoring programs (i.e., Dreamweaver, GoLive and others), HTML programming became easier, and to a lesser degree, so did the maintenance of the site's hierarchical structure of hyperlinks, but even today these authoring programs are cumbersome and time intensive to use, prone to errors, and of limited appeal to busy people who are simply trying to best convey their marketing message online without a lot of effort.When the web was young, an experienced HTML programmer "hard-coded" all web pages in the HTML programming language. Typically, a client would pay an hourly-programming fee plus "maintenance" fees plus an additional hourly programming fee every time a change needed to be made. With the advent of more capable HTML authoring programs (i.e., Dreamweaver, GoLive and others), HTML programming became easier, and to a lesser degree, so did the maintenance of the site's hierarchical structure of hyperlinks, but even today these authoring programs are cumbersome and time intensive to use, prone to errors, and of limited appeal to busy people who are simply trying to best convey their marketing message online without a lot of effort.

Today, a better way to build a website starts with a database-centric approach

When you think about a typical website, what you have are three main components: the user interface, which includes links to pages within the site; the graphic design elements; and the textual content of each page. With a database-centric development approach, the first two components are separated from the third with the creation of interface/design "templates" which are combined "on-the-fly" with the textual content, which is stored in a database. By separating these components, all you need to worry about is your textual content (and stylistic decisions such as page layout, photo positioning, etc.). We give you control of your textual content via simple-to-use web forms, so you never see any of the user interface or graphic design elements of your site. Simply type in your revisions (or copy and paste from a word processor) and you are done. No HTML, no FTP, no complicated Internet protocols to master.