Dynamic web content is not created by the website creator, but managed by the users who use the site or the dynamic web pages. In other words, the user clicks on the information tab, the site then extracts the information from the database and publishes it right in front of the user as a new dynamic web page.

Dynamic websites such as e-commerce hubs or sites highlighting the latest stock market rates have a comprehensive database with valuable information. All that happens is this: a dynamic web page is created, for instance product.php, which helps to pull out relevant information from the database and present it in form of another .php page in front of the user. If the information in the database change, the corresponding content in this page would automatically change. Not an iota of work is required to be spent by the website manager.

Dynamic web content is indeed interesting. As technology progresses, new languages and coding are coming up to make browsing worth the effort and the time. Various codes such as PHP, Java, JavaScript, Perl, CGIs, ASP, and Python have made their way into the dynamic net arena.

But mind you, a site with only stacks and stacks of information would lose its glamour unless it is aided with content that is planned, researched, and written with some effort. For instance, ever thought why trekking needs preparation and planning? If not, a sudden avalanche can ruin your hiking spirits. How about browsing through the biography of Charles Dickens?

Not assembled "on the fly" like the dynamic web content, static web content is well-rehearsed and published as HTML pages that are stored in servers. If you require reading a good piece of article on anatomy or taking a look at your friend's resume, static page would be ideal for you.

The pages take less time to load, pep-up performance of the website, and reduce stress on the server. Static pages are far more reliable as servers loaded with less pressure can perform what is expected of them. This feature does not hold good when web applications go live.

However, HTML static pages are not as flexible as the dynamic ones. Hence, areas which require generating results would support dynamic web content pages rather than the static ones.

So, if you can use static web pages for your website, go for it by all means. It is an independent, standalone page that is edited, deleted, or updated by the website manager. However, if you are a diehard blogger, go for dynamic web content. It supports spontaneity and unrehearsed content. To sum up, keep dynamic content for such pages which really need one, else go for improved static web content as they are reliable and far better to maintain.

ProgrammableWeb

If you are developing a website and you want to reuse existing resources you can use so called API's. Websites like YouTube, Flickr and Google make it possible to easily integrate their content into your website. At Programmable Web you can find Websites that offer API's and example in different languages on how you can use them.

OpenDesigns

If you want to set up a website quickly or want to make a sample for your client you can reuse Designs. You can browse and download loads of templates which you can use for free.

Other Similar Websites: OpenWebDesign, OSWD

FamFamFam

Do you want to make your websites more attractive? Add some icons too it. People like icons. At FamFamFam you can find a selection of free icon. Brilliant.

TypeTester

You have a design but you are struggling to find the right font? Go to Type Tester who will help you making the right choice. You can compare loads of different fonts at the same time. Defiantly a time saver.

ColorSchemer

Are you struggling to get your colors right? ColorSchemer will help you to select your colors so that they match and make your website look good.

Other Similar Websites: ColorMixers, WellStyled

SXC

Sometimes it is difficult to find the right pictures for the right price. Try SXC and there is a good chance that you will find the right picture for the right price (free).

Other Similar Website: PublicDomainPictures

WebDeveloper

Stuck with a programming problem? Go to WebDeveloper and meet a comunity that is happy to help. Pretty much all programming languages are represented by developers that are ready to get you going again.

After doing some research on Google and Sourceforge, I finally found a nice piece of software called Thingamablog. This program is free to download so I gave it a try and was fascinated about its features. Thingamablog is programmed in Java so you need to download the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in order to run the application. You can use it either on Windows or Linux. You also need your webspace FTP account data to actually transfer your blog onto your webserver (you can also publish your blog posts locally on your harddrive for first testing the software). Thingamablog is a desktop blogging software and can be used like a content management system (CMS).

Setting up your own Blog

Thingamablog works with templates and so called template tags, which are filled with data like blog posts, the name of the author or description tags. After that the software generates Html-pages from these templates which are published on your webspace. When you start the application you will be presented with a wizard that guides you in setting up your blog. First you have to enter some informations regarding your webspace, namely the Base-Path of your blog (like "http://www.mywebsite.com/blog/") and the Base-URL (like "/htdocs/blog"). The Base-URL is the path where Thingamablog publishes your blog posts to, ask your webhost for more details regarding this adress. If you want to publish your blog on your local harddrive you must enter different paths. Your Base-Path should be something like "/C:/Mywebsite/blog" (notice the first slash before your actual path!), the Base-URL is the same adress plus the prefix "file://", so you would have "file:///C:/Mywebsite/blog" as your Base-Path. I know this sounds a bit difficult, but you luckily have to set it up ownly once.

When you proceed with the wizard, you have to type in your blog title and a description. Right after this you can enter some categories (or call it Tags) in order to arrange your different posts later. The same goes for blog authors, which is the next step within the wizard. You can assign different writers for the same blog. Next comes the design part, where you have to choose from a list of different templates provided with the installation of Thingamablog. You can also download different templates from the web (use a Google search for it) or even create your own one. If you want to develop your own template you have to play with template tags, so I would suggest looking into the help files that come with the installation. The last step before you can actually begin blogging is entering your FTP account data. Thingamablog needs your publishing path, your user name and password, which are all provided by your webhost. If you want to publish locally, simply select "local" in the drop-down list. Right after this you are ready for blogging and please notice, that you can change your blog configuration at any time, so if you made a mistake it´s no problem.

Start Blogging

Now you can start blogging. The whole process of writing and publishing posts is self-explaining. First you will write a new post, the you choose one or more categories. After this you can either save your post as a draft or save and publish it. Notice that you can change the posts Html-code, simply choose the tab at the bottom of the editor window. Play around with Thingamablogs features (I suggest you first publish locally to test out the software). There are a lot more things you can do with it. For example you can drive Thingamablog to ping different servers, use it as a feed reader to stay up to date or publish your pictures with it.

If you need further instructions, visit this nice tutorial about Using Thingamablog or this Forum, where you can also find informations about setting up commenting functions for your blog, which would be impossible without PHP or other scripting languages.