How do I personalize web pages to visitors?

[chubbybuddy]

I'm a true "Newbie". I know very little html, and absolutely no php or mysql. I understand that mysql is some sort of database, and php is some form of accessing that database. That's about it. But what I want to have is a sign in form for visitors to my website, and the ability to store that information securely somehow. I write short stories, and want to be able to have my visitors, or someone else they choose be one of the characters in each of the stories. So how would I be able to get their name into the stories? Also, I only want them to be able to see a teaser, just a couple chapters of the story, and require them to purchase the rest. How would I do this? I would also like to be able to give them the option of receiving a free full story if they refer a set amount of visitors to my site. How would I keep track of this? I have other things I would like to do, but where do I start with the above mentioned programing challenges? Any help would be much appreciated.

[hexblot]

what you describe is commonly referred to as a CMS - a Content Management System, and writing one is a VERY large project to undertake, even if you are an experienced developer.

The fastest and easiest course of action for you would be to check out some of the free & open source CMSs available - they all offer out of the box user registration, logins, content ( story ) uploading, page customization through blocks ( e.g. a calendar "block" on the upper right corner with user-specific reminders etc ), and most are extensible through modules.

Most have shopping cart modules that can be used to buy things, and those can do all the tedious banking work ( paypal, credit cards etc ).

Some popular CMSses to consider are :
Drupal
Joomla

[chubbybuddy]

So, what your telling me is that I will need to put my learning cap on and be prepared for a long learning process. (or pay someone else to do it for me, which is not an option right now) Are these CMS's you speak of programing language specific? Is there a certain language I should focus on learning besides html? If so, where would I start looking for this information? Thanks!

[hexblot]

the ones I've quotes are written in PHP / MySQL, but they're (supposedly) meant to be ready to be deployes without any code tinkering.

What you need to be able to do in order to deploy these is:
1. Have access to some web space that has PHP / MySQL installed
2. Upload the CMS of your choice there ( usually you download an archive to your computer, extract it and FTP the contents to your web space )
3. Navigate to a special location in order to configure the system ( something like Sedo Domain Parking - Sedo GmbH ).
4. The GUI installer will ask for information like what your database username / password are, what you would like to call your site, etc. Once you have (correctly!) answered those, you'll be taken back to your new site
5. Start changing themes, adding stories, etc

Not much programming learning is needed, but you'll definently need to read up on those steps I've outlined on the homepage of each CMS. good thing is that most have a nice community backing them up

[chubbybuddy]

Sweet. Thanks for the direction. I will try it out and see how it works for me. Thanks again.