Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Setting Up the Environment
3. Planning the application
4. Defining the site
5. Building the Database
6. Creating the Template
7. Creating the Navigation Menu
8. Creating the Blog Home Page
9. Creating the Article List
10. Displaying an Article
11. Posting an Article in the Blog
12. Applying CSS to Your Blog
13. What to learn next

Introduction

Having access to the Internet does not actually imply being present on the Internet. In the information jungle that has clogged the Internet community, it is often too difficult to stay visible and be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas safely and clearly. For a more intimate relationship with your friends and the online community, in general, you should use a blog.

Short for weblog, a blog is a personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for public consumption. It is a convenient way to make your ideas and opinions known or to publish more formal articles on specific topics, and to develop commentaries around them. If I caught your attention, then this tutorial will help you set up a basic blog from scratch, with absolutely no manual programming whatsoever.

This article is the first of a series of six tutorials that will guide you through building a complex blog using Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 within the PHP MySQL development environment. You can build this blog on either a Windows/IIS, Mac/Apache, or Linux/Apache development platform.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial, install the following software and files:

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004

Tutorials and sample files:

• blog1_samples.zip (ZIP, 27K)

System Requirements:

• Operating System: Macintosh OS X, Microsoft Windows, or Linux
• Web server: Apache version 1.3.x or later, or Microsoft IIS version 5.0 or higher
• PHP application server version 4.3.4 or later.
• MySQL database server version 3.23.54 or later.

Prerequisite knowledge:

• Familiarity with the Dreamweaver workspace and interface
• Basic concepts of web application development