Directory Website? PHP? MySQL?

Hi to all you geek users! :-D

I have just finished university and seeking a new challenge.

Im trying to create a directory website for a friend (to display all his artwork)


Similar to www.yell.com


The first row of links will show the type of art, such as, space, people, abstract etc.

once a topic has been chosen, another list will appear, such as, digital, clay, paint,

I also want it easy for him to add artwork and auto-update the website.

Im assuming, PHP and MySQL database?


Are there any free templates I can modify? (I have googled but most sites want £30+)

Im not really into PHP or MySQL so...

Any help, examples, demos, information, guidance is very much welcomed!

Many Thanks!

 

You can do menus like that without PHP or MySQL using only HTML and JavaScript. This is usually cheaper, and the only disadvantage is that it won't work on browsers with JavaScript disabled. If you want to include these browsers, also, you can make all your menus in separate HTML files. Your friend could just use an HTML editor like Word to add a new link, or perhaps even a new subcategory page. I have used all of these techniques, except other dbs than MySQL. If you want to add a search, you can just use a custom search of that site from a search engine.

As for templates, I do almost everything custom, so all I have is what I made myself, but I have seen free JavaScript menu systems and such.

 

Hi Sheep,

I'd recommend a CMS like Joomla! for this, It'll handle the php and mysql.

The learning curve is not steep and there are is an active support community.
The inbuilt menu's will handle your links, You can change the way they look and where and on what pages you wish them to appear with a few clicks.

There are loads of free extensions available like, sigplus gallery, which you can customise.

The included beez template is a good starting point or there are many others around.
Use GIMP to modify any template images and Firefox's firebug to find css elements and away you go !!