quickest, and least maintenance way to build a website?

Question

Hello All,

I'm a Database guy, and I'm trying build an application and for it I need build a website as front end. I need to take input from pages after uses logs in, store it in the database, and retrieve it later based on user searches...I'll have to mine the data and display it too.

I think this is what most sites do. Since I'm a database guy, I never ventured into UI side. So, I'm looking for framework/tools using which I can build the website with ease...quicker, less maintenance overhead, and less coding (UI related) from my end.

Which is the best framework/tools for my task?

Will really appreciate your suggestions.

Thanks

P.S: I do not have any programming language preference. (Added on Aug 8th).

Answer 1

What sort of DB do you want to work with? Personally I think that the Visual Studio and the SQLDataSource Objects make this a snap to do in ASP.NET.

Drag and drop input boxes into the gui, make a button for "submit" and you're on your way. It all depends on how complicated you need to UI tier to be.

Answer 2

From a maintenance and amount of code perspective, I'd recommend Ruby on Rails. You don't have to compile it, since Ruby is a scripting language, which reduces the amount of time it takes to deploy. Simply upload the files to your server and go. There is a ton of built-in (and some not built-in, contained in plugins called gems) functionality that will do exactly what you need without a fight. Excellent free online tutorial available at railstutorial.org.

Answer 3

Go with Ruby on Rails, honestly. As a DB guy you'll probably be comfortable with the direct relationship between the auto-generated forms and the underlying data. It should get you up and running pretty quick and is very easy to maintain.

Answer 4

symfony can have you up and running with a searchable admin interface pretty quickly. Check out their screencast to see how easy it is. (What you need is completed within the first minute or two into the demo. The rest is all customization.)