What is the best way to create a free database driven website?

Check out WordPress it has a nice support base, simple to use, has a database backend and tons of plugins

It would be easier to answer if you added more details, like a more direct goal of this website; contacts, birthdays and reminders can be done by Outlook if they’re just for you.

Running a website off your own computer is difficult and risky. Setting it up requires good knowledge of computers in general, networking etc. If you want to set up a small website you’d be better off with something like nearlyfreespeech.

Wordpress is a great CMS but it’s used for making blogs or similar websites which isn’t quite what you’re looking for, it seems.

Again, can you please clarify what it is you’re trying to accomplish?

MAMP allows you to set up databases and sites locally on your Mac and then you can export the database to your web server. (theres also Windows alternatives to MAMP if you run Windows.)

as far as CMS’s go Wordpress is probably the most popular right now, but there are plenty of others out there.

More details:

I’m using Windows XP, I want a website where I can create lists of appointments, events, tv shows, contacts w/birthday reminders and such but I don’t use Outlook.

It should be easily editable

Alright, here is what I’m thinking so far:

If you want this to be a website in the strict sense (with a domain like google.com) then running it on your computer is not a viable choice for you.

If you’re going to be the only person using this website then you can follow @wenn‘s advice, but since you can’t use MAMP I recommend using Uniform Server. It lets you run a website from your own computer, which you can open by typing http//localhost/ into your browser of choice.

Uniform server has everything you need to get started – the Apache webserver, PHP and the MySQL database.

In the end though, this is a very technical approach, you’d have to create a whole bunch of code, and I don’t think this is a very good way to attack your problem. Depending on how much you’re willing to learn and how long you’re willing to spend tinkering with something you may consider finding an existing solution. This might sound silly but Facebook already does all of the things you asked for.

You could also consider some Content Management Systems like:
Plone
Joomla
Ruby on Rails
(All are open source/free I believe)

Why not just use Google Calendar with a Gmail account or something similar? Most email, phone, etc clients will link directly to it and you can share the calendar amongst many people.

You could also use a Google Group or Yahoo has something very similar.

Using one of the Group or Calendar solutions would be much easier and would probably do everything you are seeking.

You could even try Zoho which will allow you to use databases and such online.

@se_ven Ruby on Rails is not a CMS, it’s a web framework, but I agree with the rest of your answer.

Thanks @gggritso I’ve only heard about it and wanted to give some other options than Plone which I’m familiar with.

Ruby on Rails would get my vote, if you’re willing to get down and dirty with some code – it has a great auto generation of code and handles all of the database puts/gets for you.

However, if you’re not a developer, and you don’t want a funky application, I’d stick with @se_ven‘s advice and go for Google Calendar or something similar.

If you need to set up complicated calendar entries, maybe even try something like Remember the Milk. Which is an awesome web app that you can even take offline with Gears.

You may want to consider a personal wiki site. I use d-cubed which is a GTD (Getting Things Done) variation of TiddlyWiki. These are generally self-contained HTML files that use javascript to edit themselves. They run in your web browser, and require absolutely no effort on your part to get up and running.

If the TiddlyWiki type of Wiki is not exactly what you are looking for, then I would suggest checking out WikiMatrix, which allows you to compare different wiki programs, and search through them to find an implementation that best suits your needs.

If a Wiki is not at all what you are looking for, then you may want to try something like Evernote.