Hello! I want to start a small business selling things online. I have gotten lots of advice here in the past, so I figured I'd ask again!
Here's what I need my site to do:
~~User should be able to sort my products by price range, name brand, age group (for kids).
~~I want a shopping cart and a search feature (user types in keyword and products that are related show up.
~~I want my inventory to be updated somehow as people buy things, so that if a product is sold out, it will say so.
~~I want a way to put weights for each product, so that when people check out, shipping can be calculated

I'm not asking for how to do these things- but just WHAT TO LEARN?! I only know basic html and that isn't going to cut it. Is there some kind of language that can link up to my database (like Access or something?)
I am just hoping someone can point me in the right direction. There has to be some langauge/coding that can help make this work. (Still not sure what CSS/SQL/and the like are!)
Thanks so much for reading this!
K

The Other Documents section of the FAQ has information and links that will help.

You'll need some sort of server-side programming (CGI, PHP, Java servlets, etc.). Security is a big issue, so it may be better to hire someone more experienced, or to use a well-supported third-party system.

Thanks for your reply. I don't really have the option to hire anyone right now. But I do have the time and motivation to learn!
Is one of the server-side programming codes better than others?
What is the well-supported third-party system that you were referring to for?
If I know some basic HTML, would it be better for me to learn CSS for the layout design or just learn CGI scipting?
Once again, thanks so much

http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_...ams/E-Commerce/
See the corresponding sections for other languages than PHP.



The first, probably. I doubt that CGI/Perl or any other programming language is something you "just learn" without previous skills in the same area. Personally I wouldn't touch scripting for e-commerce with a long stick without someone knowing what they are doing holding my hand.

What kind of programming experience do you have?

None.
Thanks so much for the advice- but can you talk to me like I'm dumb? (cuz I think I am!)
I'd love to take this on myself, I just don't know what my first step is.

If you don't have experience programming secure systems, and especially if you don't even have experience programming, then I recommend using a third-party service for the ecommerce functions. Sorry, but I don't have any experience with such services, so I can't recommend one.