Where should data first be stored

[CrimpJiggler]

Often times I need to convert between PHP Arrays, MySQL, XML, JSON sqlite etc. Lately I've been just building PHP arrays with all the data. Its a big hassle though when theres a lot of data. I'm thinking I should have one central location that I store data in, then export to other formats from there, but I dont know what that central location should be. I like MySQL because I'm used to it. Sometimes its not an option though, like if I need to make a really light script, I dont want the hassle of connecting to MySQL. Would XML be the best place to store data, then from the XML file I can convert it to whatever format I want?

[Barand]

What, you aren't storing your data in a series of spreadsheets?

[CrimpJiggler]

Is that a good way to do it? How would I do structure it hierarchically? Right now I want to make a list of browser plugins that I find exceptionally useful, and they need to be categorised by what browser they are for, and what purpose (i.e. programming, security, downloading, flash/java compatibility etc.). I suppose I could do that with a spreadsheet, I just make special rows that say "BROWSER", then a special row for each category within that browser.

 

I don't know though, a database or XML file seems much easier. I started using OpenOffice Base and its pretty useful for converting between database and spreadsheets. I started looking at those .sqlite files in the .mozilla/firefox folder and that got me interested. I like the idea of having small database files like that but I don't know anything about sqlite yet.