Database Driven Website Design- Advantages Galore

By Author: Jhon Ann
Total Articles: 5
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A database driven website design is a website which has most of its webpage content stored in a database. As a result, the website content of database driven website design does not actually sit in folders or files on the server it is actually sitting in columns as well as tables in a database.
A website that has its content stored on the system of files is known as a static website, whereas a database driven website design is known as a dynamic website.
CMS or Content Management Systems
A website that has a dynamic content usually requires a CMS or Content Management System to assist or help the content providers in constantly updating the website.
A CMS or Content Management System is provided in the form or structure of an administration area where all content providers need to log in before they can add any content. Once logged in, they can design, create, revise and delete articles. They can upload files such as all kinds of Word documents, PDF files etc. They can upload some images also.
All of their content can be safely stored in the database. Some may also be stored on the file system ...
... though. For example, though documents as well as images can be stored in the database, there are sometimes reasons to store them on the file system as well. Performance is usually a major reason and database size is another important reason for this.
Combination of Static as well as Dynamic
Some websites have a unique combination of static content as well as dynamic content. There can be a number of reasons for this. Smaller websites are often static as there is no need to configure a huge database to store just a handful of web pages or content, so it is easier and relatively cheaper to just keep them as some files on the server. But if such websites contain some additional functionality feature such as a blog or a discussion forum, their website would need its dynamic content to be stored in a database.
Benefits of Database Driven Website Design
Database driven website Design can provide much better functionality than a static website can. Other benefits of database driven website design could include:
 Enabling many non-technical users to provide or contribute content for the website. Users can publish their articles on the website without the need to FTP them to a web server.
 Shopping cart feature
 Customized homepage facility
 You can allow your website visitors or users to perform tasks such as registering for a newsletter, providing comments on a blog, post questions to your discussion forums, update or revise their profile, etc.