I want to create a database for a business to keep a record of client bookings.

I want them to be able to book appointments between the hours of 0001 & 2359. Then I want staff to be able to view appointments for a partular day. They appointments would be booked in blocks of 15 minutes, i.e. 2 15 minute blocks would be booked for a 30 minute appointment.

But what structure should the database table take?

I was thinking of a colum for each 15 minute block, with either a '0' for not booked, and a '1' for booked, with a reference to who has booked the appointment i.e. contact id, then details are pulled from a table containing contact details.

table example
Booking ID, 0000-0014, 0015-0029, 0030-0044, contact ID, Appointment description

does anyone have any better ideas that would make this simpler?

Bookings(Booking_id, Start_time, End_time)

The business requirement that appointments are made in 15-minute blocks can be enforced through a DBMS constraint.

Oracle,
MOD((END_TIME-START_TIME), 15) = 0

I want to be able to display the bookings for a particular day in a table, with timescales next to each row, then the name of the person who booked the appointment in the next row, with each cell coloured depending on whether the time block is booked or not.

I should also mention that this is going to be a PHP, mysql, website.

example.

Time Booked for
09:00
09:15 Mr Smith
09:30 Mr Smith
09:45
10:00 Mrs Jones
10:15 Mrs Jones
etc
etc
etc

Table:
Bookings(Booking_id, customer_id, Start_time, End_time, day)

Select *
from bookings
where day = 'x'
order by day, start_time;

so what your saying is, design the database first, then use formulas as scripts to get the desiered look and feel?

Correct.

The external presentation of data is handled by the application.

Ok I now understand.

I'll put together a simple working booking database, once I know its all working, I'll begin the code for the website which will display any results.

Thanks