I've been researching online at existing registration systems such as regonline.com

I'm just in the initial phase of planning an online registration system and have not thought about the coding phase yet.

Before the actual coding, I would like to brainstorm what are essential requirements, possibly what are the best languages to use, security requirements, backup, how are changes handled, etc.

Any comments or ideas?

possibly what are the best languages to use

Whatever you can code in.

But as this is the database forum, wouldn't enquiring regarding a DB schema would be relevant.

I would say a system that forces people to use a complex password, minimum 8 characters, use of upper and lower case characters, plus at least one number.

I'm not actually doing the coding... I am supposed to be advising on requirements which is the reason I do not have specific questions on databases.. sorry

Are there certain methods or constraints with databases? Or is it as simple as coding an html form and storing these entries into a database?

How are the entries stored in the database (ie. how can you retrive all the data, sort the data, etc)?

Ok I've got to ask.

How can you be advising on requirements if you don't have the knowledge of the technologies involved??

Do we take it that someone is paying you for us to do this research for you?

Nope I am writing a report for school... and also learning for personal development... I have been reading a lot of basic tutorials on using mySQL from PHP

I am only going to document the high level process of using mysql from PHP and then comment on requirements of a good online registration system

So far I have started generating some topics I would like to discuss :

-Database security - password hashing, SSL to encrypt connection although I need to research SSL more b/c i dont really know what it is

-obviously have to use forms to grab user input

-use drop down menus and radio buttons whenever possible to avoid junk input

I created this thread to try and think of some more topics to research... and no this is not for any money

And i'm not asking for anyone to write me a book... just some ideas to begin researching with

Nope I am writing a report for school...

Ok. We know now that you are not scamming anyone

I think you are trying to go too deep to soon;

Ignore the layout
Ignore the coding
Ignore hosting, security, database technology and all the other parts that will make up the project

The first step is to analyse what information/data is required FROM the project, not how to deliver the data. Once you have the "What will it do" overview, then you move on to the "How do we do that" sections, which is where you go into more depth.
Then each of these sections can have a third tier where individual components are defined, each with a fourth level for coding or the design.

This may seem a very long winded approach to software project management but believe me it will help to reduce the "feature creep" that afflicts the vast majority of software projects.

I know what you are talking about... This is he problem I am having...

My report just asks "requirements of a good online booking system for a conference"..."
· Do the analysis - what is required of a
registration system? How are changes handled? Start dates and end dates? Security of personal information? Backup? What reports are
required? Do you remember the regonline.com website - that had a lot of good information on essential features of a good
registration system.

Thus, it is actually tougher for me since I have to talk about an online booking system in general instead of a specific case...

Unless there are specifics to making booking systems for "conferences"

Otherwise, I must talk about security issues, backup, SSL, etc.

I have to talk about an online booking system in general instead of a specific case.

Then do your research "in general" and not get bogged down in the specifics of the coding, databases, SSL, security etc etc.

Your brief with "requirements of a good online booking system for a conference", is simply to give a simple specification on what such a system should be able to do in your opinion. All you should need is a set of bullet points about the features it should have without going into great detail.

some of the features for a conference booking system would be;

To handle multiple venues and conferences at those venues;
To handle multiple speakers for any given venue/conference;
To handle multiple sessions for any speaker at any given conference;
To show available places at any given venue/conference/session;
To reserve places at any given conference/session;

And so on.

There should be no mention of what language to use.
No mention of how to host it.
No mention of security beyond the point of "The system must be secure from intrusion".
No mention backup other than "The system must have backup and restore facilities" you don't even need to mention the frequency of backups.

At the risk of repeating myself, You are writing the overview that will be used to design the specifics.
If YOU as the general specifier, go into too much detail and tie down precisely how it is coded, what DB should be used, what backup is done, what type hosting to use, what colour the pages should be etc. You severely limit the people who will follow your overview to create the system.
THESE are the people who should make the decisions on the specifics. They are the programmers, DBAs, designers, security analysts etc and they know far more about their profession and specialist field than you do, so are able to make better choices about what is best for any given part of the system than you can.