Advice on simple PHP for a newbie?

[Eretaia]

Hello, everyone. I hope what I'm asking for isn't that stupid so I'll give it a shot.  In short, I'm an art student who will soon have a minor exam which includes making a simple dynamic website about myself using Dreamweaver - in other words, it's not my field of interest and I'm quite new to this. So, I learned how to use basic HTML and CSS and I've already followed a few tutorials on PHP and databases on Adobe's site but everything is still quite vague and perplexing to me.

 

So what I'm asking for is: would you guys recommend me some simple PHP scripts to include on my website, for which I can find instructions on other websites. Just for the site to be a a bit dynamic. I'm already following a tutorial on how to make a registration/login form, and it's a bit confusing for a newbie like me, but I still try. So, basically, anything that isn't too complex to make.

 

Sorry if that sounded stupid but I don't have anyone else to turn to. I'm constantly reading PHP/database tutorials these days and I am advancing , though really slowly, so I'd really appreciate if someone could give me some advice.

[SergeiSS]

It seems that it's better for you to look for a person who can do it for you. If you pay some money. Or, maybe, he can do something and explain it to you.

[digibucc]

i'd disagree - maybe.

 

how much time do you have? do you have ANY interest in learning this or just want it done. do you HAVE the money to pay someone to do it for you?

 

if you can make a proper html and css page, and you have a server than execute php all ready to use, there are many snippet resources to just add a small amount of interaction or make the site basically dynamic.

 

http://www.hotscripts.com/

http://www.scripts.com/php-scripts/

http://www.opensourcescripts.com/dir/php.html

are just a few quick examples, from a google search.

 

if you have some cash, and don't want to do it yourself at all - pay someone. but if you don't mind learning a few basics and tinkering with some cut and paste code, that isn't to hard honestly.

 

i started out using copy paste code to get what i needed, then i learned how to change that code - then i learned how to write my own. it all depends on what you WANT to do

[Eretaia]

Thank you very much, both of you.

 

i'd disagree - maybe.

 

how much time do you have? do you have ANY interest in learning this or just want it done. do you HAVE the money to pay someone to do it for you?

 

if you can make a proper html and css page, and you have a server than execute php all ready to use, there are many snippet resources to just add a small amount of interaction or make the site basically dynamic.

 

http://www.hotscripts.com/

http://www.scripts.com/php-scripts/

http://www.opensourcescripts.com/dir/php.html

are just a few quick examples, from a google search.

 

if you have some cash, and don't want to do it yourself at all - pay someone. but if you don't mind learning a few basics and tinkering with some cut and paste code, that isn't to hard honestly.

 

i started out using copy paste code to get what i needed, then i learned how to change that code - then i learned how to write my own. it all depends on what you WANT to do

 

I want to do it myself. I have money but I don't want to have someone else do it. I want to try myself. My exam is in 16 days and I don't have to do it now, so if I really see that I can't, I'll simply skip it, because I don't want to make a fool out of myself and pretend that I can do something in which I never put some real effort. However, I am interested in this and will surely dedicate myself to learning it more profoundly in the near future. As for the current site, I already made a layout, added images and all that static stuff, now I just want to add some PHP codes to render everything more dynamic.

 

Thank you very much for the advices. I'll make sure to study well the link you sent me.

[digibucc]

well the links are really script depositories, which are cheating and do the work for you. but they are useful if you find one you like and deconstruct how it works. the php man pages are very good, and just ask specific questions to get a good answer.

[Eretaia]

I've spent the entire day browsing around and learning and I manage to find some useful stuff which I can manipulate myself. So, thanks again. Anyways, can I take advantage and ask you one more thing?

 

I uploaded a pic of a certain website in the attachment. Basically, everytime you click on a hyperlink, the quote which is circled in red randomly changes, that is, you see a different phrase. So, is that done with PHP? Can you give me any hints?

 

Thanks once again and sorry for being a nuisance.

[digibucc]

it's hard to say from just that pic, i'd say more likely than not it is javascript, though yes you can do that with php.

[digibucc]

with php:

one quick example may be to have a mysql db of possible comments, pull them into an array, and do array_rand and then print one. there are other ways to choose a random record from mysql in the first place. of course you could code the messages in an array and bypass mysql completely, but that's not the preferred way of doing it.

[Eretaia]

Finally, I did it! For a noob like me, this is a huge success, haha, so don't laugh me off. Anyways, what I did: I made a mysql database of 15 comments and when I added a recordset, I just specified SELECT * FROM 'table' ORDER BY RAND(). And that did it. So everytime I refresh my page, the comment changes. Don't know if that's the wise way to go, but hey, it works. Thanks once again for your time and advice!