Ecard site, don't know how to handle a customise page and how to send it

[farrun]

For a college assignment we have to create an ecard site: I have a while loop working displaying all the cards from the database with some other information such as “hot” etc in the corners. I also have a randomise feature that randomises the cards on the home page. This is my first time working with php also.

My problem now is that on this page here: http://rossfinn.bcfedigitalmedia.com/cardsite/card_send.php?page=25 We’re required to customise the cards in basic ways by adding a message with a font of your choice or selecting pre existing messages, having audio play when it’s viewed and being able to send the card to someone/link it to someone. These functions all have to be done with php.

I’m at a loss here, not sure how to approach this part if anyone could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

Here’s a link to my dropbox if anyone wants to look at the site. https://www.dropbox.com/home/Public/site

[ErnieAlex]

Well, a quick peek at the site and it is an interesting programming project.

First, to add text, I assume this would be printed inside the card.
Do the cards open when it is sent or is is sent by a link which brings the user to your site
with that card in place. Or, are the cards sent as emails?

Adding text would depend on how the card is processed. Some ideas…
If the card is sent in an email as a link, the link can bring the person getting the card to your site
where they see the front of the card and have a button to see the customized text inside. If done
that way, you can store the text in a database. If the card is sent as just an email, it could be a
GIF which opens by itself. In that way, you would have to create the GIF thru PHP, a bit tricky.

So, adding text to a picture is fairly easy using PHP’s image library. You can take a picture and add
text to it with just a line or two of code and then, save the picture.

After re-reading your post, it looks like you just want simple text overlaying the pictures.
The PHP image library is a bit much for that. I would use just CSS. You can create a

,
place your text inside that and CSS’ it to place it where you want it on the card. If you design your
cards correctly, this is just a simple positioning issue since the text would be inside the DIV.

Send the eCards out as HTML emails and place all of the CSS for the entire email INSIDE of the HTML.
Do not use CSS as a separate file or at the top of the email. Hard-code each CSS line where needed.
So, the DIV for the text would be inside the DIV for the card, etc.

Hope that made sense ! Good luck.