Why a Database?Why a Database?Many of our web sites use a database. You might not even realise it. Whether it's for news and announcements, a searchable directory of locations, of just a guest book, dynamic web sites are powered by a database. It lets us generate data-driven content to your site fast!
We host our professional sites on Microsoft Windows Server, linked to a Microsoft SQL Database Server. This gives the best performance regardless of database size, the number of concurrent users or volume of data requests. The database is backed-up off-site on a regular basis (usually nightly), and on request we can even provide you with backups for your own archive purposes.
The database is ONLY accessible by your web site. Queries to the database server are only accepted from our host, and any request for information is not visible to the visitor. All source for the active server pages is executed on the server, so the end-user is not aware of the internals.
We have many years of experience in database design, management and implementation. We can build a bespoke database to match your needs. If you already have a database of some form we may even be able to optimise it with normalisation or indexes.
We can import existing data from most common sources you can supply, such as Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, even comma-delimited text files from MS-DOS applications!
Most applications for a database, such as guest books, photo galleries and announcement pages can be built from our existing templates. The cost of these is included in your package where appropriate.
Common designs such as a product catalogue, shopping basket, searchable knowledgebase or mailing list may need extra specification to meet your needs. Cost depends on the changes you require and how long they take to implement. If you already have a database in another format it's usually simple to implement.
If you have any questions about what we can do, or need to estimate the development required, please get in touch.