Dummy Moving from FP to DWmx and CF MX

[Zaphod]

I have been making sites in FP2000/2002 for some time (i also use flash extensivley) I would like to make my sites more interactive e.g searchable using access db etc........the problem is i cant get my head around which server technology to use asp, perl etc.....all of the snippets I have tried while testing the software havent worked .I have very limited programming ability, as i am more of a visual designer any tips on making this a little easier for this coding dummy?

[griz_fan]

Hi Zaphod, welcome to WebmasterWorld!
If you do a lot of work in Flash, I think you'll be happier using Dreamweaver. As far as making your site more interactive, you've probably noticed that you have a ton of choices (ASP, PHP, Perl, CFM, JSP - lots of stuff!). Here are a couple of quick questions that may help narrow your search (depending on how you answer).
1. do you currently have a hosting service? If so, do you plan on staying with them (like their service, rates, etc...). If yes, then check with them to see what server-side processing they support.
2. Do you have any specific reasons to choose a specific server-side scripting language? For example, maybe the business you work for is an ASP shop, and you'd like to learn ASP.

If you still don't have a clear picture of which direction to go, I'd recomend the combination of PHP scripting and the MySQL database. Both are great places for a beginner to start, and the PHP/MySQL combo is pretty powerful. I like ASP as well, but most ASP hosting limits you to Access for a database, and Access is a pretty poor choice for dynamic websites. MySQL is much better.

No matter what way you choose, you will need web server support, even if you just want to test out sample scripts on your personal computer. Luckily, this is pretty easy to setup. ASP runs under Microsoft's IIS. If you have Windows 98, 2000 or XP Pro, you can set up Personal Web Server (PWS), which will allow you to run ASP. If you have XP home or Windows ME, you're pretty much out of luck for ASP stuff.
If you go the PHP/MySQL route, you can download one of many free install kits for Windows that will set you up with your own installation of Apache web server, PHP, Perl and MySQL.
Once you have the appropriate web server stuff set up on your PC, the scripts you've downloaded will work.
Once you get over that hurdle, things should get easier. Go to HotScripts.com and download some stuff that interests you. Look at the code, and you'll start to get a feel for how this stuff works.
Good luck and have fun! Once you get past the intial learning curve, you'll find that things get easier and more fun. Also, check out the other forums here at webmasterworld. There are a lot of very bright people here to help out.