Can iWeb accommodate a searchable database?

Question

I'm working on an iWeb site for a community directory, and I'd like to include about 4,000 names and phone numbers that visitors can look up by simply typing a name in a search window.
I can do this kind of thing easily on my computer, using a table utility in word processing applications. But I don't know how to accomplish this on a website. I'm too busy and too old to learn another foreign language like html.
As a temporary measure, I can copy columns of text from my print version of the local directory and paste it into iWeb. However, that seems to convert the text into image files with handles for sizing. When I increase the image size enough to be readable, the handles end up way off the page. Moreover, it's going to require a lot of pages and a lot of scrolling to access 4,000 names and phone numbers. I hope there's a better way.
The address for my site is:
www.pinetreearts.com.
Thanks for any and all comments and suggestions.
P.S.: Can someone explain how to make my website address and active link in these forums? Thanks.
-- David H
466 upgraded to 1.2Gz PowerMacG4 & 800MHz iBookG4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

Answer 1

Hi again, QT Kirk -- Sorry for the delay.
Except for a question regarding non-Mac browsers, I think you've solved my problem with truly elegant simplicity!
After converting my Word tables to text files, I just dragged the document icon onto a blank page in iWeb and, much to my surprise, iWeb absorbed the entire contents! It takes a couple of minutes for this page to build, but when it's done, it's all there — 4,000-plus names and phone numbers.
(I have to do some tedious formatting work on the document off-line, but even the raw version is usable.)
I just hadn't been able to visualize how 50-plus pages of text would fit on one page in iWeb at readable size. Evidently, it's like the old scrolls of ancient times, and visitors can just keep on scrolling and scrolling until they find the name they want or — better yet — use the Command-F shortcut you described.
The one question remaining concerns Microsoft browsers, which are used by most of our local community. I have the Mac version of Internet Explorer (which remains undeveloped since version 5.x or whatever), and its Command-F function fails to search the entire document. It can search only as far as the names that are visible on the screen. Beyond that, it delivers nothing but a blank page.
Newer versions of IE for Windows may work better; I don't know. Otherwise I can advise our visitors to download a different browser, such as Firefox, that works across platforms. (I presume Apple does not offer a Windows version of Safari — or do they?)
QT Kirk, your straightforward solutions have bypassed all kinds of costly and complicated approaches suggested by other so-called experts. You are a genius. Thank you, thank you!
-- David H