PHP: The next step for me (Much rambling)

[Andy Jacobs]

Hi all

I've been messing with PHP for a while now and have reached a point
where I can make it do just about anything that I want it to do. That
doesn't mean that I can make it do anything, far from it, just that I've
got to the point where I've got no 'real world' projects to further my
knowledge.

My next goal is to make my code much more graceful and efficient.

For example, I've written a CMS. To make this work, I have to create
about 5 or 6 template pages, eg:

1. content.php - this selects from the content table where id=x
2. news.php - this selects from the news table where id=x
3. allnews.php - this selects from the news table where today >
release_date and today < closing_date

I'm sure that there must be a better way of doing this so that if, for
example, a customer wants to change the look and feel of the site, I
only have to change ONE page instead of 5 or 6.

The problem is, I don't know what I should be learning about next. It's
like knowing that there's a more efficient way to get from A to B but
not knowing that you need to learn to drive because you don't know the
existence of cars, if that makes sense. I have a feeling that this
could all be accomplished through using functions in an external
functions.inc file or something. Should I be using case and switch and
passing some sort of 'action' flag with the URL - &flag=news or
something - so that it knows which query to run?

I'm just a bit lost now. I'm not looking for someone to do it for me
but maybe someone who can tell me what I should be reading about next.

Cheers

Andy

[Geoff Berrow]

I noticed that Message-ID:
<an************************@newstrial.btopenworld. com> from Andy Jacobs
contained the following:

1. content.php - this selects from the content table where id=x
2. news.php - this selects from the news table where id=x
3. allnews.php - this selects from the news table where today >
release_date and today < closing_date

I'm sure that there must be a better way of doing this so that if, for
example, a customer wants to change the look and feel of the site, I
only have to change ONE page instead of 5 or 6.

Well if the pages are properly marked up, this is just a question of
storing CSS information surely?
--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

[JAS]

> I'm just a bit lost now. I'm not looking for someone to do it for me

but maybe someone who can tell me what I should be reading about next.

Cheers

Andy

CSS is the way forward for you -- dont have people edit your PHP pages,
have them control the pages using CSS and give them the ability to turn
bits on and off without tampering with the code. The seperation will
make it a lot easier to maintain as well. You'll be able to completly
re-tool a page without have to have people re-edit it to make the
changes they did.

J