Getting nowhere with MYSQL

I have been trying for weeks now to get my head around the basics, but im now frustrated and on the verge of giving up, I need a bit of help .

I manage a number of websites, however the content on them is beginning to get huge, so i thought id create a database and utilise the benefits it brings:

I am using PHPmyadmin to access the database.

What does MYSQL query actually do? why is it needed?
How do you get the info into your HTML?
When there how do you display it the way you want?
How do you create links witihn databases?
How do you create search facilities?

The main 2 sites i need it for are holding the following infomation:

Local business directory.
Plumbers
Electricians
Builders etc.

I would like the ability to search by category, area, alphabetically.
I know each category needs its own table, within that i have name, address, tel number, email(how do you link?), website(how do you link?), map. also i would like to show the number of enties for each category on my main page ie

Plumbers(24)
electricians(45) etc

What do i need to do? what queries do i need and why? how do i display in a page?


Second site - sells greeting cards
birthday
anniversary
wedding

I would like to search by name, category, price, size. Aslo when presented on page a thumbnail of card present , which opens a full size window when clicked.

All of which are included in a database for each category.
Again i would like to show number of cards available for each category

Again where do i go from there?

Please help as i need to get my head around this....but frustration is getting the better of me. I need to get momentum and see some results, then im sure ill master it!


Thanks in anticipation.

Luke

Start with the basics and follow some simple tutorials. Once you get the basics down, come back with specific questions. Otherwise move this to the Project Help Wanted Forum and see if someone can walk you through the whole project.

---John Holmes...