Preface
Designing a MySQL database schema is an inevitable part of the career of every MySQL database administrator or even a developer. Developers and MySQL database administrators usually turn to the schema design side of MySQL to improve query performance, normalize their databases, add or drop certain indexes, modify columns, also for other things.
Generally, what one database administrator considers to be a "good" database design might not seem so perfect for another DBA. Everyone has their own set of preferences—depending on experience and other things—but in general, even while MySQL does move forward at a rapid pace, with improvements being made left and right, MySQL schema design practices do not change much.