Unsure of PHP's abilities...

[JohnnyG]

Howdy all,

 

I'm new, which should be quite obvious once I start getting into my question. I'm interested in getting a new site up and running, but I haven't touched any form of web programming for about 7 or 8 years when I worked with ColdFusion.

 

That being said, I don't really know what programming language will best move what is now an idea into a fully functional website.

 

Basically I want to create a review site of sorts. I've created most of the design already, but I recognize the need for a back-end setup with a database and some sort of content management system. Put simply, reviewers will login, write up and submit their review to await for approval (which Admin access level users will moderate) and then have that review display with all of the other reviews. The reviews can then be sorted by date added, review type, author, and also accessible by a local-site search. Essentially, after everything is designed and ready to roll out for use, everything will update dynamically and any changes I need to make here or there can be done with simple HTML, or by using some sort of CMS that will enable me to create new subsections or changes to existing stories.

 

That's what I'm looking to do in a nutshell. What kind of programmer do I need? Is what I'm looking for a pretty simple project? Any rough ideas of what kind of price I might be looking to spend on something like this? Again, imagine a once active web programmer waking from a 7 year-long coma and that is me... granted my coma was self-induced from the lures of graphic design.

 

Thanks! 

[.josh]

Well your cheapest route would be to use a prefab free/open source CMS and get someone to customize it for you.  You could probably even manage to do that yourself, as most CMS's out there are highly customizable through their own user/admin interface.  Hiring a coder to build one for you from "scratch" will easily cost you thousands of dollars.  Like 2-6k, depending on lots of things.  Not to mention nowhere near the support as you'd get from using a prefab CMS that has many users. 

 

If you want to go the hire a programmer to make one from scratch route, as far as what kind of programmer: Language doesn't really matter.  People will always argue one language is better than the others because xyz reasons.  And this is a php board so you're more likely to get a php biased opinion here. 

[Andy-H]

To kick off the "php biased opinion here", sounds like a job for PHP. lol

 

AJAX would be kool too xD

[nrg_alpha]

To kick off the "php biased opinion here", sounds like a job for PHP. lol

 

AJAX would be kool too xD

 

I second that (a job for PHP part). While AJAX can be interesting, I think PHP would pull through just fine. So as far as I'm concerned, PHP.(uck) the other programming languages (can I say that?)

 

In all seriousness.. welcome back to the webdev community ( I just arrived myself.. but in my case, I was in a 'coma' since birth.. never been in webdev prior..funny.. you have been lured by graphic design.. I'm trying to escape it (and potentially go into webdev) lol

It sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do.. as far as PHP is concerned, this place is a good one for sure.

 

Cheers,

 

NRG

 

EDIT: Oh, and as for being unsure of PHP's abilities, something tells me you won't be disappointed. PHP is very robust. It has many strengths (as well as its pitfalls).. much like many other languages I suppose.. Just educate yourself by engaging with knowledgable friendly people, and do your homework with regards to PHP security, and you'll be fine. The PHP manual over at php.net is a nice place to find out about the HUGE array of functions and constructs... I think once you get on the ball with PHP, you won't look back!

 

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!