The case for using a database for storing dynamic documents is presented clearly and persuasively in this chapter, alongside practical implementation with commercial relational databases. Separation of document content, structure, presentation, and navigation/linking can be achieved by storing Web documents and entire Web sites in a simple database structure. Once in a database, documents can be manipulated and maintained, and also effectively searched. The chapter presents requirements for dynamic documents and also has an effective review of existing technologies, including SGML and XML.

For prototype implementations, a software package, LivePage, is used, where content, structure, and navigation are represented in different relational tables. The document presentation is represented in the form of a style file that is to be dynamically attached to the document being delivered via the Web. This work addresses technical software documents, but the approach is obviously applicable to a wide range of Web documents. The chapter nevertheless has two technical weaknesses: it does not reveal the database structure it proposes, it does not report sufficiently on mainstream XML-based work. Nevertheless, it is useful to those--including beginners--who are interested in understanding how to maintain large, dynamic, hyperlinked, and even active multimedia documents on the Web, as well as in assessing the potential of using databases with Web documents in the future.