What weapon is best for this problem?

[Hisharu]

Hello all!

I’m a rather experienced programmer, but I’m definitely still a beginner when it comes to the strange world of the web. My skills in HTML and CSS have flourished, and Javascript is a breeze, but I realize that a real, dynamic webpage requires far more than just those elements.

I’m currently working on a site in PHP and so far I’ve been able to get away with just the three tools above. But I’m up to the point now where trying to handle these complex tasks with javascript would be like building a house with just a hammer. I could do it, but it wouldn’t stand very well and I’d probably have ended up reinventing numerous other tools in the process, not to mention having taken waaay longer to do it.

So here’s my scenario: I’m basically designing a “profile” page. I have a database full of information about users for the website. When they login to this page, the content on it will obviously be tailored to the details of this user, pulled from the database. The main challenge I’m currently looking at is this: I have a “frame” in the center of the page. As the user clicks on navigation links on the side, it should only change the content in this frame, without reloading the page. The content needs to be more complex than just text – most likely forms with numerous formatted fields inside.

So far my searching has lead me across many names (ajax being one of the more common) but I don’t really know what most of these things are. Keeping in mind that I’m a good learner, do any of you web-design gurus have suggestions? Am I reinventing a wheel that can do all this for me? Or is there at least a better way to build my own wheel, so to speak.

I hope this isn’t too simple a question, and I really appreciate any advice / links / suggestions / comments that can be given.

Best,
Nick

[Mottie]

Hi Nick!

I don’t know if you are using jQuery, but it’ll make your life so much easier!… Ajax is simply a method to load content from other sources. You could use it to load another page, manipulate it’s content, then present it. With Ajax you shouldn’t need to use an iframe :)

I found a really nice tutorial a while back that gives a nice overview.

[Author]

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