recommendation for dev in cape town

techead

techead

Honorary Master
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Hi there

We have a fairly large website that needs to be developed, and we are overwhelmed by the amount of companies out there. We really dont know which way to turn.

It will need some SQL for managing users, tracking users.
Needs to be able to process a payment using a credit card, connecting to a payment gateway
Needs to send invoice once payment is made.
A couple of other requirements as well

Any ideas? Would appreciate any guidance
 
loads of companies that claim they can do the work then either never finishes or never delivered what was promised and asks for more money over and above the initial quote.

also make sure you know which technologies they implement, some will do MySQL on a windows server with classic ASP, bad combo.

treat it as interviewing an employee and insist on a technical test. otherwise contact references.
 
ive getting feedback that what we require is not possible with cookie-cutter CMS and will need a custom PHP solution.

basically coding from scratch. Im not sure if this is a good thing OR a bad thing??? :confused:
 
techead said:
ive getting feedback that what we require is not possible with cookie-cutter CMS and will need a custom PHP solution.

basically coding from scratch. Im not sure if this is a good thing OR a bad thing??? :confused:
Click to expand...


Does it have to be PHP?
 
You could use a cms and install a bunch of plugins and/or modify the plugins as you see fit. Drupal, Wordpress & Joomla all have this ability.

Personally (and professionally :p ), try not to get a custom php solution unless the dev meets a criteria of using a modern mvc framework, has some unit and feature tests, and absolutely insists that you install an SSL certificate on your site. If you are going to handle credit card info posting to a gateway, I want to know that my banking details are encrypted from the start.

With regards to being custom developed irrespective of technology, I would tend to agree that custom is usually better since you have full control over your requirements. As usual, it should come down to business needs and requirements tied in with budget and your expected ROI.
 
techead said:
ive getting feedback that what we require is not possible with cookie-cutter CMS and will need a custom PHP solution.

basically coding from scratch. Im not sure if this is a good thing OR a bad thing??? :confused:
Click to expand...

There are plenty of CMS platforms out there that can do basic payment and profile management. Have a look at ecwid, its free if you only have 10 items and they even give you a basic template website for the store.. It is just a matter of adding the code to your current webpage, which you can develop using any CMS as ecwid do all the hard work for you.

And, any donkey can use/manage ecwid, although you might need help using CSS to make it fit your style.

You will need PHP (or equivalent) if you write the site from scratch.

I don't know all of your requirements but I am 99% sure you wont have to start it from scratch.
 
two very opposing stories here

one side telling me that going the CMS route is not a good idea, opensource risks, no room for customization for the business going forward that I really need to build from the ground up using custom code.

then the other side telling me easy peeezy just use CMS

I dont get it!!
 
techead said:
two very opposing stories here

one side telling me that going the CMS route is not a good idea, opensource risks, no room for customization for the business going forward that I really need to build from the ground up using custom code.

then the other side telling me easy peeezy just use CMS

I dont get it!!
Click to expand...

No no. I think you are confused. The cms route is not a bad idea as I pointed out. What I am saying is that custom solutions give you more control over a cms solution. There is plenty room for customization in a cms - as long as the cms has a well built architecture. The business needs to decide if a custom dev solution would benefit them more than a CMS would.

So for example, if you see a need for continuous enhancements of the proposed solution to cater to specific business rules and use cases, then a custom solution would be better. If you do not see this and just need something that would more or less remain static and "generic", use a cms.

Without us knowing the full details of your requirements, it would be impossible to advise you completely on what you need.
 
techead said:
two very opposing stories here

one side telling me that going the CMS route is not a good idea, opensource risks, no room for customization for the business going forward that I really need to build from the ground up using custom code.

then the other side telling me easy peeezy just use CMS

I dont get it!!
Click to expand...

"More money" versus "quick money".
 
I think we fall very far from generic :) I think once we have the solution in place, then it will be pretty static but from what I've been told their is simply no cookie cutter approach to what we wanna do.

Might be why I got devs telling me to stay away from Wordpress and just build from the bottom up
 
ok so spoke to some people tonight

i was told that developing from the ground up is going to be a better option. Basically having a front end in wordpress and then a back end in sql is not the best idea. the wordpress portion would be so small, it just makes more sense to remove that eliment entirely and just code from scratch.

then came the whole Linux vs Microsoft debte. The guys we spoke to use C# and swear by it. Others are saying that PHP is a good option and then other are saying that coding it using Ruby on Rails is also a good option.

I guess at the end of the day they all the same??? :) Just comes down to personal preference for the coder?
 
No, not really. With languages come different pros and cons. Ruby garbage collector isn't amazing I've worked with it a lot. C#, can use mono otherwise you need licensing costs, PHP is an abortion. Nodejs is an option, lightening fast as well. Python is nice as well.
 
semaphore said:
No, not really. With languages come different pros and cons. Ruby garbage collector isn't amazing I've worked with it a lot. C#, can use mono otherwise you need licensing costs, PHP is an abortion. Nodejs is an option, lightening fast as well. Python is nice as well.
Click to expand...

why is PHP an abortion? This site uses PHP :) Everyone I speak to seems to use PHP... Maybe its just more popular to have abortions these days?
 
Just because it's used, doesn't make it less ****. Go read up about it.
 
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