Lately I've been working on the backend user interface and database structure for a new website which categorises articles on the History of Education. A couple of colleagues are looking after the front end (the part that will be publicly available over the net) but my job is to create a set of pages for the data entry. I don't have to enter the data itself (which is good because there are 3000 postcards worth of it).
So, the trick here was to read the specifications and what the clients actually wanted to do with the site and then get the database in the correct format to hold the data so the querying could be done properly and efficiently.
I used PHP and a MySQL database, accessed by SQLYog to develop this and here's what it looks like:
I worked closely with the administrator (who would be entering the data) and the academics in the School of Education who, effectively, are the clients to create a database and web interface that is easy to use and will store all of the data in a format useable by my colleagues here in ELAC who will be running the SQL queries on the data via the websites front end. So you see, a lot of things to think about. This is sometimes the trouble when working as a cog in a larger machine. When a team of developers work on a project it's really important to keep communicating so you don;t end up with a database good for the administrators but poor for the front end or vice versa.
If you're interested, here's the link of the main website:
http://dll.ex.ac.uk/hoebibliography/index.php
Ian
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