Web Development

Local Alumni Website: Some necessary questions

January 12, 2009 January 12, 2009 Recently, I was approached by a high school alumni organization to help with their website as a volunteer. The first question they had was, "Can you help us to have our site talk to an Access database file?" Hold the presses! When I hear that question, first I cringe, then I have to dig a little deeper. There are very few times where it makes sense to use an Access database as your source of record for a website. It turns out that my questioning was valid. As is usually the case, the plan to use the Access database stems from the fact that Access was used during the initial data compilation - i.e. someone manually entering contact information through Microsoft's software. In the single-user world, Access is fine. But with plans to have the data dynamically updated through the web page by each alum, the solution wouldn't be scalable. Joel: "What is the purpose of the site?" Org: "People should be able to update their contact information, as well as see what's going on with the school and city." Joel: "When do you plan to go live?" Org: "This month. We have a prototype built, but it doesn't connect back to a database or Access yet." At this point my brain starts to do the math. It's going to need to be cheap (free), up and running quickly, secure enough for people to log-in and enter their information, and it's not yet connected to any database (Access or otherwise). We wrapped up the first call discussing a Content Management System (CMS), such as Joomla! or Drupal. CMS hadn't been considered before our call because the folks at the alumni association weren't familiar with the technology. Between the quick setup time, and overall ease of administration, it looks likely that we'll be choosing a CMS to get this up and running quickly. I'll keep you posted on how this develops through this blog. Questions? Thoughts? Post them in the Comments!