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Databases and the Web (screen 5 of 7)
Your organisation may have a number of databases which it uses to manage things like a membership list, a list of paintings for sale, or a list of items for sale from your gift shop.
Your database could be considerably more extensive - like the National Gallery of Australia database which holds the records for all the items in its collection, or like our own 
Search engine(1) which contains details of more than 4,200 cultural websites.
The database/Web interface
It is possible to create an interface between these databases and the website you develop so you can make this information widely available. The more information you can provide of interest to your target audience the more successful your website is likely to be. On the Web, content is King and Queen!
A Web screen can display the contents of such a database, updating its display whenever the database is updated. There is a range of database connectivity software(2) you may be able to utilise to bring your database information on to the Internet.
A complication of this type of website is that the database and website may need to be on the same computer to allow fast access to a changing database.
If you modify your database several times each day, this could rule out using an ISP, as you would need to have everything in-house. However, if the database is updated less frequently, such as weekly, there would be no problem in uploading it to the ISP's server at these intervals.
The Web can also be used to input data into a single database from anywhere in the world. This is a very powerful tool.
Starting out if you want to develop a database for your website
If you aren't very familiar with how to make the connection between your databases and the Web this article(3) might help.
In addition, other articles and resources are available on database development and Web connectivity(4).
Tools commonly used to create databases are Microsoft Access, FileMaker Pro, Microsoft SQL/Server, Oracle, Sybase and Informix.
Tools commonly used to create an interface between databases and Web screens are Allaire Cold Fusion, Everyware Tango, Microsoft InterDev, and the proprietary 'glue' software that comes with Oracle, Sybase and Informix.
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References
- Our own Australian cultural search engine http://culture.gov.au/
- Database connectivity software http://www.webdeveloper.com/
- Yenza - Building a website - Taking databases online http://www.nrf.ac.za/yenza/database/
- Database development and Web connectivity http://www.webreference.com/programming/databases.html
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