Newbie-Friendly PHP/MySql Editor?

[naf81]

Since php and mysql are free, I came up with the idea of making a newbie-friendly editor based on these two things alone. I've checked some editors and they aren't nearly as newbie-friendly as they could, and should, be.

Picture this: The user wants to create a database. The editor could be set up in such a way, the user simply has to go to what I will call the 'add tab', and then find the database entry. They click on the button in the add tab to add a database, which then opens a wizard. The wizard asks for the type of db (in this case, mysql). It then asks for the name. Followed by the host, username and password. At the end, it asks, "Would you like to create a table now?". If you say yes, it brings you to basically an identical wizard, which goes through the steps of naming the table columns, how many columns, varchars, etc.

You could make pretty much everything equally as newbie-friendly. Through a system of wizards, drag-and-drop (like, when you 'add' a hypertext link, it attaches to the mouse and allows you to move the mouse to where you want the link to be on the page), mouse-resizing (as in, resizing a browser window by grabbing the corner of it), and other things we are all familiar with, an editor far superior to any current editor could be created. The code portion could all be done behind the scenes. The designer would only need to fill in the fields of the wizards, and put things where, how and what size they want them to be.

This kind of newbie-friendly editor would be invaluable to the internet. People who know basically nothing about coding, could easily and quickly create dynamic webpages.

The reason i'm posting this idea here, is because I am not going to create the editor myself. And, I think it is too good of an idea to throw away in the trash. Current editors are too complex for newbies. And they are unnecessarily complex. Something like what I describe here is the inevitable future of editors. So, cheers to the first party who makes it.

[ober]

No offense, but this stuff isn't for newbies.  Newbies don't know the reasons why things are the way they are.  That's why it's a skilled field.

What if I built a machine that could be put in an auto factory where all you had to do was push a button and the engine popped out.  And then I put this engine in your car and then one day it breaks.  You can't bring it back to me to fix it because all I did was push a button.  I don't know how the machine works so I have no idea what might be wrong with your engine.

See where I'm going with this?

[redbullmarky]

whilst many people (including myself) like to think of Dreamweaver MX/8 as an 'advanced development tool', it is in fact very newbie friendly - if a little intimidating at first. what youre suggesting is kinda like what DW does already - a day spend just "messing" with dreamweaver and a few tutorials (even with know knowledge or manual) is enough to get you going very very quickly.

these days i only ever use dreamweaver to hold my projects together in one place and for its integrated FTP, etc. but when i first started, i used many of the features that would do much of this stuff anyway - call it a compromise between purely coding and a wizard.

the biggest problem with this, as ober addresses, is that I was throwing all these recordsets and 'server behaviours' that dreamweaver generated all over the place, without even looking at the code to try and understand why or how it worked. so things soon got messy. only when i delved into the code did i really begin to take control over the way a website worked and looked.

if a newb really wants presence on the internet, then there are plenty of easy(ish) to use CMS's and blog software that make it a breeze.

[obsidian]

i'll have to agree with ober on this one: the things you are recommending wizards for are not things a newbie [i]should[/i] be doing. besides that, someone needs to learn how those things work and not depend on an editor to do the work for them. if a newb is going to be creating a database, hopefully they know the basic structure and SQL statements to do so. if not, just have them use Access until they get the hang of things.

what i think would be cool is to get a phpMyAdmin type editor where a user can create a database using a wizard and it generate a SQL CREATE statment for them that they can then study and modify it for their learning.