well, not knowing the details of your database schema will certainly hinder my reply. However, the general appraoch for database design is to make it conform to the Third Normal Form (3NF)
Here's are a few links to articles describing Data Normalization Database Normalization Basics First Normal Form Second Normal Form Third Normal Form
hope this helps :-)
Comment on Re: How many mySQL tables is too many? (While working with DBI)
Hi, I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for your reply. I read all of those links and they were extremely helpful. It will certainly assist me in my design. Thank you!