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21 September 2001 Having installed & tested Apache, PHP & MySQL I now face building the actual Database & supporting files for the new site...
  MySQL places it's Databases by default within the folder C:\mysql\data - the "database" is in fact a folder in this location with the same name as the database. Tables are files within the folder.

Although the actual ISP website that I'm going to use places the database files within a folder called /mysql this is academic in use - as long as MySQL knows where the files are it doesn't matter where they actually are. The ISP doesn't prevent direct access to these files (although it does prevent access to MySQL), it simply points out that errors will result if they are FTP-ed across & must be built on the server site using either phpmyadmin, PHP or Perl. Accordingly, on my duplicate local site I've removed the /mysql folder. This removes all MySQL files from my local copy folder & will simplify FTP work when copying from local to ISP folder.
  I've created a database name in the Webspace of the ISP using the "My Account" link (a secure link, hence the HTTPS preface). Normally this name is the same as the username, but as mine contains a hyphen (modem-help) it has been chosen by the server. This name is denoted below by <DB>. To keep future scripts correct it's now necessary to create the same database locally:
  1. launch Apache.
  2. open a DOS window & change to C:\mysql\bin folder
  3. launch MySQL, then the MySQL monitor: 
      mysqld
mysql -u root -p
  4. get rid of the test Database: 
      DROP DATABASE test;
  5. create the new Database: 
      CREATE DATABASE <DB>;
  6. confirm the creation: 
      SHOW DATABASES;
  7. and finally, 
      quit
mysqladmin -u root -p shutdown
  What is important about Database work is to get the table structure right, hopefully at the beginning.

A Relational Database is a database with specific relations between the tables that make up the database. This will become clear as this work continues. It's worth saying at this point that I do not have a clue at this stage what the structure of these tables will be - this is a journey of discovery, having to learn absolutely everything as I go along, which is why I'm documenting everything, for both my sake & anybody else travelling a similar route.