The last two weeks has seen numerous ‘light-bulb’ moments with things finally starting to click. Revisiting the last chapters made me more confident that I had taken the information in better and moving on to the next ones; the important things seemed to go in better first time. A lecture by Craig also helped a lot, as hearing some things actually explained by a human, made them sound easier than they did reading the book. With the increasing experience, common terms are starting to become second nature and this allows me to concentrate on what I am learning rather than trying to remember what terms mean.
This section of learning has also brought me closer to understanding my specific needs for the end project. Setting up the tables for the MySql Database was helpful in that it reinforced previous learning but, with the subject being more relevant that the book tutorial, it was easier to relate to and take in.
I spent time looking at what PHP I am going to need to make the site do what the Creative Brief says it should. The simplest feature will be using Includes to show the header and footer on every page. Another feature that I am going to include is rotating content on the home page, to display a varying image on the home page. This should be fairly simple and will include setting the images as numbered variables and then selecting a random number to Include. Next the contact form will require PHP to gather inputted information from a form and send it to an email address. This should hopefully be quite straight forward with having some previous experience with this. Finally the most difficult feature will be linking to a MySql Database and being able to display, add, delete or modify rows. This will involve various pages of PHP which all link to the tables that I have just created.
I can now see that I have an understanding off all of the aspects of PHP that I require, however the hard part will be putting all of these pieces together so that all features work alongside one another. I think the book has now taken me as far as it can, it can still be used as a reference, but I need to start looking at PHP specific to my needs.
With two weeks to code the site, I believe I have adequate time based on the speed of my progress so far. Although I still cannot imagine me having a fully working and validating site at the end of those two weeks! I will have to get the XHTML and CSS out of the way and hope I can complete the PHP using my book as a reference or online tutorials, should I require any help.
Targets for next two weeks;
- Complete XHTML and CSS coding for site.
- Complete PHP scripting.
