Dead_One - 2:24 pm on May 11, 2011 (gmt 0)

Hi,
i am attempting to create a site which has a search page linking to a databse, but have a few problems before i have even started.
The site will contain a list of people, searchable by various factors, and also searchable by availability dates. Is this possible using sql/php and if so, any advice on how i should procede?
I am having problems knowing how to format the database to make it searchable by more than 1 data type, and also how to store and search availability dates.
This is probably too vague i know, but any help apreciated.
thanks