From Concept to Design, Meeting Your Web Needs.
Penguins Ink is a web design, redesign, development, management and graphic
design company. We offer a wide range of services to our clients and understand
that communication is number one in helping our clients reach their goals in presenting
the most visually pleasing, structurally sound web site in the most cost effective way.
Databases:
Below are some of the most widely used databases available to you for implementation as your back end. Web Developers may try to lead you to a more powerful database then you need, and is a key point to discuss and investigate before you sign on for development. Remember that your goal is to develop an efficient site for your clients, not a money machine for your developer.
Microsoft Access:
Access is one of the easiest databases to work with during web development, because of its easy to use and universal appeal to the business world since it is already implemented within it. Your information can be transferred into a functioning web site, with very few modifications.
Querying your database through your web site is the goal of the user, that is why they came to your site. They want to be able to get up-to-date information with minimal clicks. For web developers, creating these queries can be a time consuming process, and in web design time equals money. Access contains the ability to create queries quickly and then test them within the Access environment before they are implemented to a web page, thus saving you time and money.
Access seems too good to be true; however there are downsides. The main downside to Access is its inability to be able to have more then a few simultaneous clicks (visitors to your web site at the same time). After a certain number of users begin to use the information on your site, the data rate becomes slow, so the web pages will load slowly, and your visitors might begin to get frustrated, and unhappy web users will most likely find somewhere else to go for information.
Conclusion: If you are looking for a low end dynamic web site, which has the ability to grow in the future, and the number of visitors to your site at any given point will not be to large, this is the database for you. If you are creating a web site on a larger scale, then Access might be hindering your productivity more then helping it.
Mysql:
In recent years Mysql has become one of the most widely implemented databases on the net, the reason: it is an open source database, meaning it’s free. Mysql offers far great capabilities then Access, and is the perfect database for almost any web site on the net.
Unlike Access it has the capability to store more information, search through it at a faster rate and hold more simultaneous hits by your visitors. This will help you create a more efficient web site, where users can find the information they need faster.
However, there are some downsides to Mysql depending on the designer you choose for your site. Mysql does not have the simplicity that access has, and since it is not already implemented within your business environment, all of your data will have to be transferred, which depending on the size of your business can be a time consuming process. I also does not have the query builder built within its framework, so creating complex queries might take more time, and again time equals money. Although in recent years, Mysql has made great strides in creating applications to ease this for developers which depending on their experience, they can essentially keep pace in productivity as a less experienced on can with Access.
Conclusion: This database is ideal for almost any web site on the net today. It has scalability for any business, it can keep data transfer rates high even with high simultaneous hits and with the newer applications to help in the development Mysql is the database of choice by Penguins Ink for our dynamic development.
MS SQL:
MS SQL is a far more powerful database then that of Access and Mysql. It offers the ability to potentially hold thousands of simultaneous connections without slowing down or possibly corrupting data, as well as more security options to control access to that data. It also can handle several procedures at one time, which for the large scale e-commerce site is going to be key to keeping productivity high, and users to continually come back for your services.
However there is one big downside to this type of server, and that is the cost. If you are about to move your business onto the internet, and already have a significant (thousands) client base, then this might be the way to go. If you do not have this, then you will want to start at a lower end database and slowly build yourself up to this. Upgrading between all three databases is not complex, and with very little additional development.
Conclusion: MS SQL may be the highest level of databases in which to implement into your site, however unless you have already established yourself this is far too powerful and costly to invest into.
Oracle:
Oracle is very similar to that of MS SQL, however unlike MS SQL it can run on non-windows bases servers such as Linux and Sun Solaris. It has many of the advanced features that MS SQL has, as well as advanced security and encryption features to maintain limited access to sensitive data.
Conclusion: Like MS SQL the cost of initial investment into this database may not be right for your first development. Again until you have solidified a large scale cliental, your business would have a great cost efficiency with either Access or Mysql.
There are other databases not mentioned within this page that your business may want to take advantage of. You as a business have to come to your own conclusions on what would best suit your goals for your web site.
Microsoft Access:
Access is one of the easiest databases to work with during web development, because of its easy to use and universal appeal to the business world since it is already implemented within it. Your information can be transferred into a functioning web site, with very few modifications.
Querying your database through your web site is the goal of the user, that is why they came to your site. They want to be able to get up-to-date information with minimal clicks. For web developers, creating these queries can be a time consuming process, and in web design time equals money. Access contains the ability to create queries quickly and then test them within the Access environment before they are implemented to a web page, thus saving you time and money.
Access seems too good to be true; however there are downsides. The main downside to Access is its inability to be able to have more then a few simultaneous clicks (visitors to your web site at the same time). After a certain number of users begin to use the information on your site, the data rate becomes slow, so the web pages will load slowly, and your visitors might begin to get frustrated, and unhappy web users will most likely find somewhere else to go for information.
Conclusion: If you are looking for a low end dynamic web site, which has the ability to grow in the future, and the number of visitors to your site at any given point will not be to large, this is the database for you. If you are creating a web site on a larger scale, then Access might be hindering your productivity more then helping it.
Mysql:
In recent years Mysql has become one of the most widely implemented databases on the net, the reason: it is an open source database, meaning it’s free. Mysql offers far great capabilities then Access, and is the perfect database for almost any web site on the net.
Unlike Access it has the capability to store more information, search through it at a faster rate and hold more simultaneous hits by your visitors. This will help you create a more efficient web site, where users can find the information they need faster.
However, there are some downsides to Mysql depending on the designer you choose for your site. Mysql does not have the simplicity that access has, and since it is not already implemented within your business environment, all of your data will have to be transferred, which depending on the size of your business can be a time consuming process. I also does not have the query builder built within its framework, so creating complex queries might take more time, and again time equals money. Although in recent years, Mysql has made great strides in creating applications to ease this for developers which depending on their experience, they can essentially keep pace in productivity as a less experienced on can with Access.
Conclusion: This database is ideal for almost any web site on the net today. It has scalability for any business, it can keep data transfer rates high even with high simultaneous hits and with the newer applications to help in the development Mysql is the database of choice by Penguins Ink for our dynamic development.
MS SQL:
MS SQL is a far more powerful database then that of Access and Mysql. It offers the ability to potentially hold thousands of simultaneous connections without slowing down or possibly corrupting data, as well as more security options to control access to that data. It also can handle several procedures at one time, which for the large scale e-commerce site is going to be key to keeping productivity high, and users to continually come back for your services.
However there is one big downside to this type of server, and that is the cost. If you are about to move your business onto the internet, and already have a significant (thousands) client base, then this might be the way to go. If you do not have this, then you will want to start at a lower end database and slowly build yourself up to this. Upgrading between all three databases is not complex, and with very little additional development.
Conclusion: MS SQL may be the highest level of databases in which to implement into your site, however unless you have already established yourself this is far too powerful and costly to invest into.
Oracle:
Oracle is very similar to that of MS SQL, however unlike MS SQL it can run on non-windows bases servers such as Linux and Sun Solaris. It has many of the advanced features that MS SQL has, as well as advanced security and encryption features to maintain limited access to sensitive data.
Conclusion: Like MS SQL the cost of initial investment into this database may not be right for your first development. Again until you have solidified a large scale cliental, your business would have a great cost efficiency with either Access or Mysql.
There are other databases not mentioned within this page that your business may want to take advantage of. You as a business have to come to your own conclusions on what would best suit your goals for your web site.
