>> What makes you think it is going to be all static pages? I guess you have
>> a whole different approach of how you build dynamic pages. I build them
>> as sort of templates. So, these templates are stored on disk in the
>> filesysytem, as regular php pages. And the dynamic part (I'm talking
>> about the actual 'content' that is inserted in the DB by a CMS user here)
>> is inserted in these templates through querying the DB. I don't see how
>> this should involve PHP code being in the DB.
>>
>
> What you're describing is basically static pages. Just because they
> reside on a database and are loaded via a templating system doesn't make
> them any less static from the end-user's viewpoint.
>
> Non-static pages would include things like shopping carts - which respond
> to the user's input with different output.

Aah OK, I see where you're coming from now. Yes, from an end-user's
perspective the pages indeed are pretty much static. I was thinking more of
the CMS-user's perspective.

>>> Hmm, agenda items probably are going to be in their own tables with code
>>> to access those tables, aren't they? Maybe the same with contact info,
>>> quotes, etc.?
>>
>> No. Like I said I guess you and I have a whole different view of how a
>> CMS might be build. The code to access agenda items for instance would
>> simply be in a php file stored in the filesystem, rather then in the DB.
>> Even markup code of these agenda items I would keep as much as possible
>> out of the DB. Only the plain text values (with, like I said an
>> occasional HTML tag), or integers and dates get stored in the DB.
>>
>
> That's fine - but you need to get it into the page, right? And if the
> CMS's don't have the code in the page itself, they at least have
> placeholders in the code to indicate which code is to be loaded and
> executed.

Correct, that's pretty much what it comes down to.

>
> If it's that important to them I suggest they get someone capable of
> handling the job. Nothing against you, but a site search engine is
> anything but a beginner's project.

No offence taken. I'm leaning towards this outcome too. Although I will
still have another good look at it. Also, I haven't heard the full details
from the client yet of what exactly the search engine should be capable of.
I was merely doing a little homework to be prepared for any negotiating.

Thanks anyway for your input Jerry. The part about using table indices and
the indexing of words was very helpful.