Re: [PHP] blog design issue...

Jason Pruim wrote:
> I know you are all probably thinking "What does this have to do with  
> PHP?" and in reality... It's probably stretching it a little bit...  
> BUT I am in the process of writing a blog software (Yes I'm aware of  
> all the open source, and paid stuff out there... I'm doing this to  
> learn :)) I am looking at adding "categories" to my blog posts so I  
> can organize my drivel into something that looks somewhat  
> professional, or at the very least, organized so you can filter out  
> all the crap...
> 
> What I'm wondering about though, is would it be better from a database  
> design stand point to do a database field for "categories" and then in  
> there put "Personal", "Business", "Crap I found funny"  Basically 1  
> database field for all the categories I decide to use. OR should I go  
> the other route and do 1 database field for each category?

Give categories their own table, then it's simplistic to add more. Hard 
coding it as a column undermines the point of joins in SQL and makes 
your database design suck, not to mention your application ;)

> This is going to be a small blog to start, but I guess I should always  
> be looking at performance, security, & maintainability right?

Always.

> I did read the post that tedd put up about looking at storing  
> variables differently and am considering going that route... But just  
> wanted to know what you all think :)

Table!

> Oh.... I'm also not expecting to have more then 4 or 5 categories at  
> the most.... Unless I release the blog to the public and take  
> wordpress down :P

It's not what you expect, it's what your users expect that counts. Learn 
that and your software will be usable.

> So any help would be greatly appreciated :)

:)

Cheers,
Rob.
-- 
http://www.interjinn.com
Application and Templating Framework for PHP