I would like to know (or where do I go to see) the followings.... (I
am not rush to see the answer. However, I would like to see the
quality answer with figures and/or articles to support the answers.)

1. how many small or home based business (1-5 person business) web
sites are there in United States?

2. how many sites from question 1 are created by small or home based
business themselves. (i.e. No external consulting firms or web
designers are consulted).

3. how many sites from question 1 are created by web designers. 

4. how many freelance web designers are in US and where do I get such
a list?

5. Is there anyway to find tools or online services which can assist
web designers to create certain "basic" database web applications
"without" the need of knowing programming languages?

Example of "Basic" web database application :
Order inquiry by customers.
Content view by paid subscribers.

Note : The definition of web designer means the person who have the
skills (such as HTML, Dynamic HTML, CSS, Flash, etc.) to create web
pages but have no programming skills (such as perl, php, ASP, SQL,
Java, VB, etc.) to develop web based database application.

Assumption : Home based or small business web sites which are built by
web designers or individuals don't involve database applications.
Hosting shopping cart and payment application is the exception.

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Request for Question Clarification by acorn-ga on 22 Aug 2002 20:34 PDT

Is there a specific reason you're requesting this information, e.g.
you want to market something to some subset of these groups?  If so,
it might make it easier to help you.

The reason I ask is that questions 1-4 seem unanswerable for several
reasons, including the fact that both small businesses and websites
come and go with great rapidity, there is no required reporting of who
creates a website (yes, if you pay a designer to design your website,
you'll include that on your taxes, but if your 14 year old kid does,
who's to know), and there are a zillion 'freelance web designers' in
the world, including the aforementioned 14 year old kid.  Not to
mention that "home-based business" can include all those 1-person
'businesses' who are part of an affiliate program or who make a few
hundred dollars a year or simply people who like to say they have a
home-based business and have a website who actually never make a cent.

As far as question 4 is concerned, the HTML Writers Guild <
http://www.hwg.org/ > claims over 150,000 members in more than 160
countries.  Last year they combined with the International Webmasters
Association < http://www.iwanet.org/ > with 24,000 individual members
in 106 countries.  But not a one of the professional freelance web
designers I know belongs to either organization, including me.

I also know a number of people who would like to be freelance web
designers (with the implication that they make money at it) - maybe
they took a class or made a website for an organization - who have
never made any money but who will tell you they're freelance web
designers.  And several of them *do* belong to the HTML Writers Guild

As far as question #5 is concerned, the answer is yes.  Generally
speaking, though, if you can't create these web/database applications
yourself, you'll have to purchase a script or pay for a service.

Ralph Wilson has an article on members only services/software at
http://www.doctorebiz.com/v4/010815.htm

As far as shipment tracking goes, certain shopping cart systems can
provide for this, for example Hypercart < http://www.hypercart.com > 
Or you can use the search phrase "Shipment Tracking script" to find
scripts.

Thanks in advance for your clarification,  And perhaps some of the
comments I have made will be useful.

Best regards,
Acorn-ga

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Clarification of Question by fireduck-ga on 24 Aug 2002 22:28 PDT

acorn,

Thks for your response. Yes, it is true that I am developing a kind of
web service to this type of people in order to make the static web
page designer can develop a dynamic database content page without
learning programming languages and/or partner with a programmer.

I do realize that it may not be possible to get those statistics, but
would like to see what other experts say. Of course, when I talk about
freelance web designers, I don't mean those 14 years old kid. I would
count the home based business people with track record on doing
business regularly.

I also look at the www.doctorebiz.com per your suggestion. As you can
see, It involves the things that most static web designer hard to deal
with. Also, those sites are prebuilt with specific business model in
mind. Different people may have different requirement, such as data
database table design, etc.

Well, since my previous questions are not answerable. Therefore, may I
ask following questions? (I don't know it is allowed by Google or not)
Pls confirm.

Since you sounds like you are also a feelance web designer. I would
like to see your comment on my development. Do you think there will be
a market for it? Roughly how big is it (in US only)? And what is the
best way to market it?

Thks a lot for your response. It took so long that I almost forgot I
posted question here. Anyway, I really appreciate your explanation.

rgds,
fireduck-ga