Question about creating an online database thingy! Web Nerds Required

Antique_Guitars

Hello Everyone,

I have asked some questions about various things on here and music radar about copyright and databases etc over the last few years and im looking to try and start something I have been thinking about for a long time.

I am rubbish at web stuff so any suggestions of programs to use or if anyone wants to help/ has hosting please let me know, I think I have an idea of the web address I might buy so hopefully that might be sorted soon.

Basically I want to start an online research database (which contains images and text) which refers to historical musical instrument iconography (depictions of instruments in various different mediums). Having studied a degree and masters in musical instruments I realised how useful this would be for research purposes. As stated before I would only upload information for which there is no copyright or for which I have the copyright holders permission to upload.

So.....................

I don't want it to be complicated, I simply want a database that I can easily update which has maybe 3 or 4 pictures per item (max) and some brief information like description and citations etc etc. A bit like one of those shopping cart kinda systems but with nothing to actually buy.

I also need some way of having a general search function but also a more advanced search function. So for example if I was looking for depictions of lutes in paintings from between 1600-1700 I could choose Lute from the list of instruments in the search panel and then the medium ie paintings and then the date period.

So looking for search functions:

Instrument Type
Medium
Date

Something like that!

Anyone have any good ideas for hosting or programs or anything?

Any help or info would be much appreciated much love

wibble

A wordpress based site would do what you want.

Either create a custom theme or find a free theme that's close enough to what you want to do and tweak that to suit.

It'll be a bit of a learning curve depending how much html and/or php you know.

Antique_Guitars

Hmm ok sounds interesting I have seen a few wordpress sites and they seem fairly good

Antique_Guitars

Looks like you can get good hosting and domain deals using one of their affiliates

wibble

PM if you want any advice before jumping in!

Antique_Guitars

Cool thanks I shall investigate it first then see if I have any questions.

I have had a hosting account and domain names registered with 1and1 for a long time and have never had a problem with them but they are a bit expensive really and I find their setup a bit confusing given that I am a tech idiot.

PolarityMan

I'm not sure wordpress is what you want, I would look at using something more like cakePHP, drupal or rails which is basic a quick scaffolding for CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) interface sites which is exactly what you do want.

Antique_Guitars

Hmm ok sounds like some other good options