Here's my problem. I really really reeeealy want to dive into web design by having a working web-server to learn how to build database-driven websites... I tried many different WinXP-friendly programs & packages; XAMPP & WAMP5 just to name a few (I liked XAMPP the best).

I've also tried setting up CMS's such as Joomla & Modx. The problem lies in the phpmyadmin conglomerate; no matter what I do, phpmyadmin works for a little while and then ill make a few changes to set up a password to secure phpmyadmin, but then the entire phpmyadmin collapses, and everytime i try to log into phpmyadmin, it accepts the username & password, but never leaves the login page.

I've uninstalled & reinstalled XAMPP several times, making sure to delete the remnants of the instalation directory so it installs a fresh copy of phpmyadmin, but I notice that there are still remnants of mysql crumbs here & there (unless I install XAMPP to another directory). I think this is actually what's causing most of my problems. How do I totally flush this out of my system. Is there any other easier rock-solid idiot-proof methods anyone would suggest; as I'm pulling my hair out, lol.

References:
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html
http://www.wampserver.com/en/
http://www.joomla.org
http://modxcms.com

Yeah, ...I guess I'm ignorant sometimes when it comes to this stuff. I thought phpMyAdmin was software that contained MySQL, because when you log into phpMyAdmin, it brings you to a mySQL database; no? After I uninstall XAMPP, I delete the entire directory (which includes the apache & phpmyadmin folders & all its settings) just to make sure that the next time I install XAMPP, it will do a fresh install. I even shut down the computer and wait 15 seconds to turn it back on, just so the RAM & OS refreshes so there is absolutely no chance that the database crumbs are memory-resident, lol.

What happens when I reinstall it to the same directory it was at before is the phpmyadmin doesn't work and I'm right back to where I was at before... In which case I uninstall XAMPP and then reinstall it to another directory, and then it works. But even then, when I try to set up Modx, it shows all of the admin accounts I created from the previous installations of XAMPP's phpMyAdmin database, even though I log into phpmyadmin and there is absolutely no sign of other phpMyAdmin admin member accounts.

...I kind of wish there was a way to build these kind of websites using flat-file structures that don't require some "hypothetical" website server-softwares spliced together in a hair-brained fashion. If that's possible, I'd learn a programming language just to build it! I can load html & css files together without server-software just fine...

Why can't databases be the same way? ...sure, it may not have a front-end to edit tables & what-not, but ultimately when it comes right down to it, even mySQL files are flat-files because everything has to be stored somewhere... Why can't phpMyAdmin work without apache or some other server software? or can it? Why does all of this stuff have to be spliced together. I know html & css really really well, but when it comes to this database & cms stuff I'm like a toddler trying to ride a mountain bike, I can't even reach the peddles, let alone get to the point where I can start balancing! lol.

Smack me if I'm ignorant, but it just seems like the website server environments could be greatly improved, as it seems archaic to me with a semi-high learning curve, and very very easy to totally screw up... But I suppose who am I to complain, most of this stuff I'm talking about is free anyways; lol.

I have used javascript files to store descriptions for links so that the links within an html file pulls information from the .js file to automatically show descriptions on the loaded page. I havn't researched DOM very much, but it seems like it could do this, as well as allow me to build my own admin cms and totally bypass having to use phpMyAdmin.

Perhapse what I really want to do... is build an html website, using xhtml-transition & css, but include a blog-like-engine for news & what-not, so that when the html file loads, the html pulls the new-blog-posts from some database or flat-file-database... as well as pull a navigation for the blog-archive-links. Is it possible to do this with xhtml, or is there no way around this without using php? It just seems like this is so doable, especially with what I've seen of AJAX & DOM. Where should I focus my energy? Stick with trying to get Apache, PHP, and mySQL to work together, ...or do something new?

hmm, I was just listening to http://www.clearleft.com/dconstruct05/ podcasts, and after listening to the one on the DOM, I was thinking about wether or not it is possible to just use xml & dom as a sort of send & recieve (within an html file), instead of php send & recieve. Since xml is so good at being used as rss in the first place, it's a pretty good useful standard already (what good does php have over xml-rss & dom?)

...Instead of using php, dom could just be used to call up all the posts from an xml file (or say the first 10 if you want to limit the amount you see on the first blog page)... I've already seen xml-feed widgets that allow you to embed rss feeds into a page and have them actually look like they are built into the page ( especially kudos to http://netvibes.com )

...However, I did a TINY bit of research, and I guess MySQL uses a table of contents which makes it a bit faster when doing send & recieve... Can this be replicated with the xml format without breaking the way rss feed readers read xml rss files? I'm not entirely familiar with exactly how this is set up...

I guess my gripe isn't against having to use the server software like Apache, IIS, or whatever, to test out CMS environments & what-not. It's trying to mash these disparate php & MySQL things together, and then on top of that have a cms for ease of updatability as well as an xml format if I want it to be subscribable; It just seems like a bloated-learning-curve to begin with...

...also, how is it that we designers can be so gung-ho & excited over pretty css designs (including me often) while a running paralelled problem called Global Climate Change lurks around the corner? Does anyone's heart get ripped out after seeing the new Al Gore movie, An Inconvenient Truth? - http://climatecrisis.net

thanx, yeah I do have a few different copies of 5/6-month-old Linux. Next time I free-up-space or get another hard drive, I'll download & install a copy. As for uninstalling the copy of Windows XP I have right now, I'd lose allot of stuff that I'd rather not lose, just to gain an unfamiliar interface.

For instance, I download torrents & torrents of documentaries. I have two hard drives, one of the operating system (80 gigs), and the other for storage (120 gigs). The storage is practically filled, and documentaries have overflowed into the primary hard drive, lol...

I have a dvd burner which I back up multiple videos (divx, xvid, mov, etc) onto occasionally, when I get around to finding reems in the Staples dumpster... (I'm that poor!)... This computer? free... This internet connection? neighbor's unsecured wifi... and I want to make it as a web-designer? lol

Good to know that I'm not the only one who's had trouble with phpMyAdmin on WinXP; I was starting to go crazy, because everywhere I turned I saw php websites, and guides showing how easy it was to set up using phpMyAdmin & CMS's. But all I'm reading and hearing from all these web-standards people is using xhtml & css. Clients want to update their sites with WYSIWYG interfaces, not learning two programming languages & copying templates to create a new page, lest paying me to go in there and update it everytime they need the smallest of changes.

Just seems like the web is still a garbage heap of so many different types of programming languages... Hopefull it'll start to decompose, widdle down, and sprout something decent... AJAX seems like a step in the right direction, but even that's widdling down and we're stepping back, lest we careen towards popping another web bubble again; lol...