Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Planning the application
3. Create the navigation menu and e-card gallery
4. Build the e-card sending pages
5. Build the view greeting page
6. Set up the administration section

The following article will explain how to build an e-card sending site, with the following features:

• Administration area to manage the available cards and categories.
• CSS design.
• Users can select a card from one of the categories, fill in some fields (name, e-mail address and message), preview the card and then send it.
• Users can select the e-mail format to use: text or HTML. In text-based e-mails, only a link to the card is sent, while for HTML, the link and the card contents are sent.
• When the recipient views the greeting online, a notification e-mail is sent to the sender's address, if requested.
• The administrator can upload new card images from the administration section, in an easy manner.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial, install the following software:

• Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 or Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
• MX Kollection 3 – Try | Buy

System Requirements

• Operating System: Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, or Linux.
• Web server: Apache version 1.3.x or later or Microsoft IIS version 5.0 or later.
• PHP application server version 4.3.4 or later ; ColdFusion MX or later; ASP VBScript 5 or later.
• MySQL database server version 3.23.54 or later.

Tutorials and sample files

• Zip files: PHP | ColdFusion | ASP
• Database dump: MySQL | Microsoft Access 
• The folder with the images for the sample e-cards.

Prerequisite knowledge

• Basic concepts regarding databases. You can read an article on database design here.
• Familiarity with the Macromedia Dreamweaver workspace and interface.
• Basic concepts of web application development.
  When you are done with this tutorial, you can compare your result with the completed web application found here:

When you are done with this tutorial, you can compare your result with the completed web application found here: PHP | ColdFusion | ASP. To test these completed applications, you need the folder with the images for the sample e-cards.