hi

so first off, i don;t particularly know what I need, or even if i'm posting in the right section. I figured it would be a database.
What I want to do is set up a website account for an online art gallery where people can sign up as individual users, then load a picture and then post information about it and then set a price. And then, an outside person can come in and click on the ....possibly Paypal "buyItNow" link and make a purchase.

Would that be a database I need? Or something else? ANy coding help on this would be much appreciated.

thanks

Yes, you should use database ond of course some scripting language for example PHP. To create database, when you have it on your pc installed (or when it is enabled on server), you can use phpMyAdmin tool - it would be the easiest way for you to create database.

One of most popular databases: MySQL

ok i think my website account has that MySQL.

any idea where I can find detailed instructions on how to set this up? Or a book?
my website administration skills don't go past HTML and design

Well, hard to say. First of all, you should read your server FAQ - the basic data about phpmyadmin should be there or go to http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php

Then, you should learn "a bit" php - use GOOGLE - you'll find many PHP tutorials...

Based on the questions you asked and the way you asked them, you need to shop for a script that will do what you want done. Most of them come with instructions on how to set them up.

Hotscripts dot com is a good place to start looking. If you can find a site that already does what you want you might be able to find a link to the script they are using.

Coppermine Photo Gallery or Gallery

chrishirst's suggestions are well rounded solutions however to help you have a bit more understanding of what is involved you should understand which technologies a solution like this would need and how they would be implemented.

A database, such as MySQL, is only used to store information in your case this would be user login and email info. To access this information and put it to use a scripting language would have to be used, this is the logic end of a user management system. A developer would create a sign-up form and enter that information into the database then he/she would create a script that would log a person in by checking their username and password against all the values in the database to ensure a match. Then this system would have to make sure that each person, after being logged in, is able to access certain pages, like the order page for example. When integrating paypal, it could be as simple as an HTML button or as complex as use your chosen scripting language to tie into Paypals remote objects for order and account management.

To have a system like this custom coded it shouldn't take a good developer more than a day to get it pounded out (however be lenient when it comes to bug tracking as this could go on for a while depending on how heavy the system is used).

I hope this gives you a better understanding of what would be involved.