Comments on: Jumping into digital history with both feet http://behind.aotw.org/2006/10/15/jumping-into-digital-history-with-both-feet/ the backwash of a digital history project Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:31:49 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Brian http://behind.aotw.org/2006/10/15/jumping-into-digital-history-with-both-feet/comment-page-1/#comment-5719 Brian Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:42:02 +0000 http://behind.aotw.org/2006/10/15/jumping-into-digital-history-with-both-feet/#comment-5719 Hi Tom, I'm glad if this is of any help, and good luck with your projects. There are lots of other references online with the detail you'll need as you get further into it. It's not so amazing to create a website from PHP and a database, actually. For the first few years I tried to do it all by hand with just HTML. Now <em>that</em> was amazing (and way too hard). I do have some data entry screens on the website -- forms -- written in PHP which I and site contributors use to edit existing and create new website data. I also play directly in the database on occasion. Years back, when I was first creating the database tables for things like biographical and unit information, I imported data from spreadsheets I'd been accumulating (formatted as .csv). I've also formatted plain text files as SQL "create" scripts to import quantities of data. I only use XML in 3 places. One is the data source for the <a href="http://aotw.org/timeline.php" rel="nofollow">Timeline</a> exhibit, second is the RSS feed, and the last are the <a href="http://www.w3.org/P3P/" rel="nofollow">P3P</a> (machine-readable privacy policy) files. The Timeline and RSS XML are generated from mySQL data, though, with homegrown PHP scripts doing the conversion from data (text) to well-formed XML. Good hunting! Brian Hi Tom,

I’m glad if this is of any help, and good luck with your projects. There are lots of other references online with the detail you’ll need as you get further into it.

It’s not so amazing to create a website from PHP and a database, actually. For the first few years I tried to do it all by hand with just HTML. Now that was amazing (and way too hard).

I do have some data entry screens on the website — forms — written in PHP which I and site contributors use to edit existing and create new website data. I also play directly in the database on occasion. Years back, when I was first creating the database tables for things like biographical and unit information, I imported data from spreadsheets I’d been accumulating (formatted as .csv). I’ve also formatted plain text files as SQL “create” scripts to import quantities of data.

I only use XML in 3 places. One is the data source for the Timeline exhibit, second is the RSS feed, and the last are the P3P (machine-readable privacy policy) files. The Timeline and RSS XML are generated from mySQL data, though, with homegrown PHP scripts doing the conversion from data (text) to well-formed XML.

Good hunting!

Brian

]]> By: Tom Williams http://behind.aotw.org/2006/10/15/jumping-into-digital-history-with-both-feet/comment-page-1/#comment-5712 Tom Williams Mon, 09 Apr 2007 02:08:42 +0000 http://behind.aotw.org/2006/10/15/jumping-into-digital-history-with-both-feet/#comment-5712 Hi Brian, Your tutorial has been invaluable. It serves as a guideline as to how all the pieces fit together and small enough to serve as a starting point to accessing the technology. I am working of a personal project to create a database driven website for my family genealogical research. Also, I am blessed to volunteer my time to create a data driven website for a non-profit organization to archive 55 years of their history. I was hoping to make use of Apache, MySQL, PHP, XML, XHTML and CSS. Thanks to your blog and tutorial, I can see some light along the path I need to travel. Maybe I am too ambitious to try to tackle all these technologies at once yet I think if take it in small manageable chunks it is doable. I enjoy your website and blog finding both informative and inspirational. I am floored by the fact that you use MySQL, PHP and queries to generate all the pages for your site... AMAZING. Do you use PHP to generate your database tables??? Do you use XML as a staging area for your database tables??? I have so many questions because I am trying to get my mind wrapped around all the technology can do. Thanks again for all your efforts and the willingness to share your experience and expertise. Enjoy the Journey, Tom Williams Hi Brian,
Your tutorial has been invaluable. It serves as a guideline as to how all the pieces fit together and small enough to serve as a starting point to accessing the technology. I am working of a personal project to create a database driven website for my family genealogical research. Also, I am blessed to volunteer my time to create a data driven website for a non-profit organization to archive 55 years of their history. I was hoping to make use of Apache, MySQL, PHP, XML, XHTML and CSS. Thanks to your blog and tutorial, I can see some light along the path I need to travel. Maybe I am too ambitious to try to tackle all these technologies at once yet I think if take it in small manageable chunks it is doable.

I enjoy your website and blog finding both informative and inspirational. I am floored by the fact that you use MySQL, PHP and queries to generate all the pages for your site… AMAZING. Do you use PHP to generate your database tables??? Do you use XML as a staging area for your database tables???

I have so many questions because I am trying to get my mind wrapped around all the technology can do.

Thanks again for all your efforts and the willingness to share your experience and expertise.

Enjoy the Journey,
Tom Williams

]]> By: Doing Digitial History « Bull Runnings http://behind.aotw.org/2006/10/15/jumping-into-digital-history-with-both-feet/comment-page-1/#comment-2938 Doing Digitial History « Bull Runnings Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:19:32 +0000 http://behind.aotw.org/2006/10/15/jumping-into-digital-history-with-both-feet/#comment-2938 [...] Part I; Part II; Part III [...] [...] Part I; Part II; Part III [...]

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