I just want a simple search feature on my site, so that visitors can search through articles, either by name, topic, or date written. Every time I do an internet search setting up a database, this is the direction I'm led to. However, from what I've been told, setting up a MySql database is overkill, and probably not even what I'm looking for.

More than likely, I'm making a mountain out of a molehill (a normal thing for me), and the solution is just too simple for me to realize.

Hath anyone a suggestion?

A database of some kind may be required. It really all depends on how the site is structured.

It could be a simple as a flat file (XML) that you maintain and a search agent simply traverses.
Or it could be a crawler on your site that builds a flat file index with a search agent

or many other things.

There is also agents such as FreeFind, PicoSearch and Google Custom.

All that said having the articles in a CMS or RDBMS system means you could customise the search how you wanted it.

Hmm maybe you can build just an html page called "Archived Articles"
You can either hard code it and do it all yourself, by listing them in columns like by alphabetically, by date, and so forth. A little extreme.

BUT a database sounds like what you need... there are always other alternatives, but your likely to spend alot of time anyway you go. If youre not to database/php savy i would recommend buying Ben Forta's MySQL crash course, and just going to tizag.com for their free php tutorial, and start learning it will just give you the ability to have more powerful websites.

Sorry if i wasnt much help,
Good Luck
Marcus

Yeah, I've spent quite a bit of time, over the past couple of weeks, searching for information about how I should do it. Somebody had mentioned to me that MySql would probably be way overboard for what I want to do, but they had no suggestions otherwise. What I've gathered from searching, has pretty much been what y'all's replies have been, but I just thought I'd check to see if there was something I was missing.

I don't want to go the google route, and right now,I only have a couple of articles to put into it. I know that over time, the number will increase (hopefully, because it's an educational site), so maybe it won't really be a lot of work, since I'll be adding to the database as I go.

Thanks for the link to the tutorial. I guess that'll be my homework tonight.

Originally Posted by aphesis

Yeah, I've spent quite a bit of time, over the past couple of weeks, searching for information about how I should do it. Somebody had mentioned to me that MySql would probably be way overboard for what I want to do, but they had no suggestions otherwise. What I've gathered from searching, has pretty much been what y'all's replies have been, but I just thought I'd check to see if there was something I was missing.

I don't want to go the google route, and right now,I only have a couple of articles to put into it. I know that over time, the number will increase (hopefully, because it's an educational site), so maybe it won't really be a lot of work, since I'll be adding to the database as I go.

Thanks for the link to the tutorial. I guess that'll be my homework tonight.

Don't take advice from people who deny one situation worthy, but can't offer another viable solution. Use a php/mySQL setup, it may take a little more time (depending on your experience) to setup, but it's well worth the time. You need to spend the time, to get the time (users visiting).

If it's an educational site you could set up some kind of Wiki. These usually allow you to customise the look and feel to match your site.

It means you can enter your articles into the Wiki, instead of hard-coding the pages and it takes care of all of the PHP/MySQL etc... for you - providing you with search and browse facilities.

They also usually come with Forums, Chat rooms etc which is very useful if that's the route you want to take - but you can generally trim it down to just what you need.

If you want an easy-to-manage solution, without having to do much coding then a Wiki is probably the best solution.

Even better news is that many web-hosts now provide Wiki/Forum/Chat-room software that can be installed on your site with just a few mouse-clicks.