PHP portal- need some advice on capabilities

[DaRNCaT]

Hi, I'm designing a website, which will be PHP driven. Sadly the programmer we had lined up appears to have taken another job, so while we are advertising for another programmer, I'm supposed to come up with a number of site designs for the client to choose from.
I know a basic amount of PHP, but I'm not sure on a few things, so some help would be greatly appreciated- and if anyone knows of a kickbutt PHP/ MySQL web programmer who works for peanuts on tight deadlines?? Heh!

First off I'd like to use graphics for menu section headers- but these will be database driven, is that possible? (i.e - is it possible to specify an image to have text overlayed and reuse the image for every menu header?- I know I can do it with HTML- I'm just not sure how the database would change the output)
I also know that you can do "on the fly" graphics using GD? Does this allow you to put tints or change the colors of graphics as well?

I'm also worried about the amount of graphics I can use while doing database searches- I don't want the pages to be slow and laggy, but they need to be graphicaly enticing to make the user want to come back.- is there any kind of way I can estimate load times from a database search so I can calculate how graphic intensive I can get?

thanks heaps. Sometimes, when my code just won't behave, I take it outside and make it listen to britney spears music, and when it comes back it's really well behaved. I wonder if it's suffering from post tramatic stress syndrome now..

 

[sleipnir214]

Don't store the graphic files themselves in MySQL -- store only their filenames and use PHP to produce HTML which will instruct the browser to retrieve them in a separate fetch.

Unless the graphics' content will change based on user input, I strongly recommend producing all the graphics ahead of time. GD is good, but processor intensive.

If you need a graphic with a blue background and the word "Menu" the the foreground, produce three separate static graphics and store them on the filesystem. Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[DaRNCaT]

cool thanks, that makes the design abit easier, I thought it would be a better idea to batch process the images and store them, rather than using GD, but the client was sure that it shouldn't be nessasary. Good to have a comeback on that- the pages need to be super fast (on dailup) so I'll take your advice and make sure it's done the simplest method possible.

one further question- how much data can a MySQL database hold- and can you search multiple databases if they are kept on the same server? Sometimes, when my code just won't behave, I take it outside and make it listen to britney spears music, and when it comes back it's really well behaved. I wonder if it's suffering from post tramatic stress syndrome now..

 

[sleipnir214]

It's not so much a question of speed, especially with dialup. It's a question of processor load on the server.

MySQL (as of version 3.23) has a maximum theoretical table size of 2^63 bytes. But your operating system may limit that to a smaller number. Check out

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Table_size.html

for more information Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[DaRNCaT]

thanks heaps! That should make the whole database issue easier to work out. Sometimes, when my code just won't behave, I take it outside and make it listen to britney spears music, and when it comes back it's really well behaved. I wonder if it's suffering from post tramatic stress syndrome now..