recommendation for dev in cape town

Take the middle line. Use both:
I work with Drupal, which thinks of itself as a web frame work, not a CMS. You use a web frame work to build a CMS, or any other application that is needed to your needs. Drupal is not a cookie cutter CMS.
I say middle line, that is have an application (like Drupal, and WP and Joomla to a point) and try and use as much as possible the ad-dons or modules that can do different things for you that you need out the box, such as user control.
Not knowing what your job is about, you can also use an e-commerce ad-don, which will already take care of the basic stuff like invoices and orders, etc
Then, with PHP, create your own custom code or modules specific for your needs. Such as your payment gateway.

Two golden rules for a developer (that you can check on):
NEVER change core code. Updating core and ad-on modules should not break the site.
Strictly follow the coding and API standards of the platform you build on.

Custom modules that are built properly must be able to be installed on any installation without any problems, and be under version control. And it can stay proprietary, despite what the open source license say. You not distributing or selling the code.
 
I find it interesting how everyone has their own preference, which makes sense I guess. Everyone has got a history with specific code and frameworks and I guess that is where we sit now.

Allow me to share some more details on the website, and perhaps people could offer their insight from their on which route to proceed on. Let's for argument sake say that right now we dont know whether we going front end and back end, or just custom coding.

It will need a database for managing users, tracking users. Registration is free.
Another database for managing and tracking events. Subscribing to events is paid. Needs to invoice
Payment split into two. Payment 1 upon initial sub to event, payment 2 upon event success. (months down the line)
Needs to be able to process payment 1 using a credit card, connecting to a payment gateway
Needs to be able to process payment 2 for everyone subscribed to event X, no user required. Batch process.

Ok, I am over-simplifying, but just laying out the concept.

What you think?

edit : we have everything in place. everything. Only thing we need is a dev to actually do this, so we can launch asap.
 
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Yes, we all have our own preferences and opinions - but honestly, ASP.NET, Rails, PHP etc etc are all perfectly capable of what you'll need. So it really just comes down to what the developer is proficient in (yes, even if that is PHP).
 
roguemat said:
Yes, we all have our own preferences and opinions - but honestly, ASP.NET, Rails, PHP etc etc are all perfectly capable of what you'll need. So it really just comes down to what the developer is proficient in (yes, even if that is PHP).
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this is what Im starting to think. As long as its done by someone who is proficient and good at what he does, any of those should suffice.

im not too clued up on this, so Im sorry if its a stupid question, but should I do some research into various frameworks for PHP and specify to the dev what framework we would want to use?

From what I can see there are a number of them, and some of them a LOT more popular/robust than others. From my limited knowledge, what I have read about Symfony sounds positive.

edit: sorry and there was CodeIgniter as well
 
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and the more pages I open and more articles I read (written by devs who arent apposed to PHP) have good things to say about Yii.

will continue to research. appreciate the comments and feedback so far
 
Don't over think it. PHP has a plethora of frameworks. You're going to find it difficult to find a specific developer to a specific framework especially if its a new one (laravel & phalcon php). So just focus on doing your research on the dev and his abilities first.

You seem to already have a preference for PHP?
 
shauntir said:
Don't over think it. PHP has a plethora of frameworks. You're going to find it difficult to find a specific developer to a specific framework especially if its a new one (laravel & phalcon php). So just focus on doing your research on the dev and his abilities first.

You seem to already have a preference for PHP?
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im trying :o

I do find all this quite fascinating though, and looking at all the options is quite something to behold!

from what I understand my main options really include,

python
asp.net
java
php

Im sure there are other but Im TRYING to not over-complicate it. Perhaps I have no right, based on my limited knowledge, but I just have a better gut feel about PHP. Perhaps Im just going on popularity, which might not be ideal. Might also be that every dev I've spoken with (except one) has spoken about PHP.
 
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Another thing to consider is availability. Should your developer up and leave, it must be easy enough for you to find someone that could replace him/her. BTW, html should not be in that list as it really is the markup language of the web and not server side code :)
 
So if you're wanting PHP, then find someone that can do PHP. Good luck, but you're going to may a lot for what you want.
 
I received some feedback from a dev now,

I will use php v5.4 , (codeigniter) mvc framework and mysql database with bootstrap UI in HTML 5
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I understand what he said, except for the red part. Would someone mind explaining that to me?
 
techead said:
I received some feedback from a dev now,



I understand what he said, except for the red part. Would someone mind explaining that to me?
Click to expand...

Bootstrap is just a css framework. codeigniter, no thanks.
 
semaphore said:
So if you're wanting PHP, then find someone that can do PHP. Good luck, but you're going to may a lot for what you want.
Click to expand...

I know you probably trying to help (and you are) but you seem very negative about PHP. I understand that you seem to be quite keen on Python, and from what Im reading its very powerful. Very limited availability though, which puts me off a bit.
 
techead said:
I know you probably trying to help (and you are) but you seem very negative about PHP. I understand that you seem to be quite keen on Python, and from what Im reading its very powerful. Very limited availability though, which puts me off a bit.
Click to expand...

I'm keen on many languages, but php is not one of them. I gave you a plethora of options. Not sure what you mean by limited availability, but you're wrong in that regard. As a developer i find PHP a convoluted mess.
 
techead said:
we should be expecting to pay?
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We recently built a system, it cost us 230K. So yes, you're gonna pay more ;) Bearing in mind it also depends on your time frames, if you want something in two/three weeks. Yes definitely. Your scenario im estimating around 80K (roughly)
 
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