Client Website Update

Just an update on my client project to document where I am up to at the moment.

I am really happy with the progress I have made regarding all of the back-end code work (mainly the PHP, MYSQL). So far I have made the site so that my client can upload another new product easily to their website, the four product types are; Pastries, Cakes, Wedding Cakes and Special Products (suitable for diabetics etc). As it stands the four types are all separate, they are uploaded via separate links and the data is stored in four separate tables within my MYSQL database. It all works really well, the upload is great, the edit function works great and also the delete function works fine for all four products. I am really Happy with it so far, here a some screen shots of the work:

Index Page:

 About Us Page:

Menu Page:

Product Page:

Location Page:

Here is the CMS system that I have built into the site linking with a MYSQL database:

Admin Tabs have been included in various different places on the site.

Authentication is required:

This is the CMS interface:

Icons appear for my client to edit/delete a post:

Adding a new product is nice an easy:

Overall I am really happy with my progress, however after meeting with my tutor and peers I realise that a few changes need to be made.

Firstly, as it stands, each type of product gets uploaded to a corresponding table in the database, I need to change this so that it all goes into one table called 'products'. I will add a field called 'type' and edit the CMS system so that my client chooses which type of product it is (cake, pastry etc) when they upload the image and details. This will help me when it comes to coding the 'Product of the day' section on the homepage where a product will be randomly selected each day.

I also need to change the width of the content area as at the moment there is too much white space at the sides. This will lead to adapting all content within the content field so that it still looks in line. I am going to add a washed out background colour to the text areas of the CMS system because the text is a little difficult to read with the background being so busy.

I want to avoid scrolling as much as I can, so I will adapt the layout of the product information and image so that there are two products side by side instead of viewing them one at a time. This also means getting rid of the 'show all' function because I want the browser to automatically show all of a type of product.

I am going to change the layout of the main menu page, if the content area is wider then I can also have these side by side instead of as a list, the aim of this change, again, is to avoid scrolling.

Other things I will look at changing are the banners, the main image on the home and menu pages will be adapted to suit the new content width and I will look to incorporate some Flash into the banners of the Location and About Us pages.

This is because they are in the style of Polaroid photos, so I will look at including an interactive element that means the image can be played with, shuffled around and perhaps enlarge so that they can be viewed better.

So, even though so far I have accomplished a lot in a week, I now feel like I have a lot more work to do!

Best get to it!