PHP & MySQL® Web Development All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies®

4.3. Building the Catalog Web Pages

The online catalog requires two types of Web pages. One page displays an index of product categories, where customers select the category that interests them. If your catalog has subcategories, you may display the index page more than once — once for each level of categories. The second type of page is the product page, which displays the product information for products in the selected category.

4.3.1. Designing the catalog Web pages

You've undoubtedly seen many catalogs on the Web. You might already know exactly what design you want, but keep in mind that the most functional design for you depends a great deal on the type and quantity of products that you have in your catalog.

The catalog in this chapter offers furniture. The information to be displayed for each product is the name, description, price, and a picture. The information fits easily on one or two lines across the screen. Other products might require more or less space on the screen. Some catalogs display one page per product.

You need to design two different types of pages: an index page that displays categories and a product page that displays the products in a category.

4.3.1.1. Designing the index page

The index page needs to display categories in a form so that users can select a category. In this design, the categories are displayed in a form with radio buttons. Figure 4-1 shows what the index page of the online catalog looks like when it's displayed in a browser.

The index ...