While the city slept, Cathy Puta (
[email protected]) feverishly typed...
You are dead wrong. This is NOT a database project
Please stop top-posting:
http://allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?How_to_post
The maintenance cost is zero. since MPs do not change between
elections.
Erm... then what is the point of having elections? However, if you mean by
that statement that MP's do not change from a day to day basis *after* a
general election and *before* the next one, then that isn't true. What about
by-elections? And just because an MP doesn't change, doesn't mean that their
contact info won't change over time.
If I spelled something wrong a simple search and replace fixes that
in two nanoseconds.
Yes. I know that. The example I gave was over-simplified. But my statement
stands - this method will mean high maintenance costs and will be a QA
nightmare. How can you possibly imagine that it will be easier to maintain
308 pages *and* keep QA up-to-date, than it will be to maintain 1 page?
The cost of developing a database for this simple little project is
out of proportion to its value.
Hardly! I could knock up a basic database to hold the information you need
in less than an hour. The admin pages to maintain the database (add / edit /
delete entries) by the end of the day (or even quicker if you don't want
them to look pretty). If you have the data in a machine-readable format
(spreadsheet, etc) then I can quickly automate the process to insert the
data to the database, otherwise you hire some lacky at minimum-wage to type
it in using the admin pages. Once this is done, it is a simple matter to
maintain the database - anyone who can use a web-based form can do it (and
it can be done from anywhere in the world with a web connection). If you
*desparately* want to export the data to static pages (eg. for distribution
on CD-Rom), I can quickly knock up a script to extract the data from the
database and write a series of static pages. Once this script is written,
you can use it any time to produce an up-to-date version - at the press of a
button!
And remember that once this database is set up, it will still be available
after the next general election, after which your minimum-wage lacky can
update the database where necessary instead of wading through page after
page of HTML.
And it isn't a "little project" - you are wanting 308 pages setting up! And
it can hardly have little value, as you are charging people a minimum of $10
for access to the info.
Try to grasp that elementary concept.
Try to grasp the elementary concept of QA, and apply it to the method you
are proposing to generate 308 pages, as opposed to the method we are
proposing.
I am the client and I will have it my way. If I wanted expert advice
I would find an expert and no one here qualifies.
No. You are not "the client" - the client is someone I enter into a contract
with to provide a service. You are someone asking for help with a project,
and completely ignoring the professional advice you are naturally receiving
in a forum filled with web professionals. You are currently a "potential
client", though with your attitude, I don't imagine you will get any further
than that with anyone from this group.
Cheers,
Nige
