Hello

Smart amateur hopelessly tied in knots here ... Can someone please advise me of the best 'idiot's method' for creating the below site? As much as possible I need WYSIWYG. (Blocks of source code make me feel helpless and hopeless, although snippets of HTML can be OK.) It also needs to be cheap cheap cheap - or free!

It has features in common with a dating site, but isn't one. I want web surfers (users) to be able to...

1. Easily and quickly create their own online profile(s)...
- Enter information into a large number of text fields and menus
- Select photographs to sumbit
- Preview the profile and edit if necessary
- Submit the profile and photos, with payment. This initial payment triggers automatic monthly payments, plus administrative monitoring of those payments.
- Edit (most of) the information on their profile(s) whenever they want
- Take down their profile(s) and stop their auto-payments whenever they want.

2. Search profiles created by other users...
- Filter by most of the criteria on the profiles, and/or 'all terms' style
- View search results comprised of thumbnails - ('picture #1' with selected associated information)
- View the full version of profiles they select

3. Communicate...
- Email addresses hidden in profiles: Button or text to 'Email this person'. (No charge.)

The submission form...
- Already exists in Frontpage 2003 (but hasn't been tested/linked to a database because I don't yet have a host with the right CGI/ASP/FPSE (what?!) that I need (hm?) ... because I don't know what I need!)
- Needs to record the date of submission.
- Would be good if it could calculate 'current age' from entered birth dates, and update them annually. Or, just annually auto-add 1 year to the age they entered.

It would be nice (maybe not essential) if...
- Photos, when submitted, are auto-sized to fit the display areas on the profile. (Or how?)
- A portion of the home page updates (immediately/regularly) to display the most recently entered profiles/thumbnails.
- Users can set up 'email alerts' if they want to be notified when new profiles are submitted.
- User forum attached.
- Can handle languages like Chinese, Arabic.

The visual style of the whole thing must be 90% customisable by me. The design largely already exists in Frontpage. I can't be restricted too much to someone else's look/layout/text.

What I need is the 'machinery' and magic that make it all happen behind the scenes, but I still want control. I also need it to be simple so I don't just keep getting stopped in my tracks . This will be my first ever web database, cgi, asp (or whatever)! (All I've ever made before is this: http://www.insightmatters.com.)

Thanks!!!

Hi - welcome to Webmaster-talk!

Sounds like you've got a pretty big project going there! If you've never done any database work before, I really wouldn't recommend starting out with something so big. Whilst some bits you've mentioned are pretty simple, doing the whole thing would take a lot of learning.

Still, it can be done! If you want to do it all yourself, grab a few PHP/MYSQL books from the library and get some good software like Dreamweaver. You'll also need a server running PHP (assuming it's PHP you're using, and I'd suggest you do for a beginner).

You seem to have a really clear idea of what you want to achieve, which is rare for a beginner if you know what I mean. If you're not bothered about doing the whole thing yourself, you can outsource the project using something like Rentacoder.com. I've used it before, and if you're careful, it can be a good way to get things done. It'd probably cost about $150 + logo design, depending on who you hire.