Friday, February 08, 2008
Deciding on a Direction
Well I’m not sure that too many people have tuned in to this blog yet, but the work goes on none-the-less.
The first fundamental question to answer about rebuilding SeattleArtists.com, is what platform and programming language to use. The current site was built using ASP (Active Server Pages), which runs on a Windows server, but a popular web programming language has since emerged called PHP. PHP runs on a Linux server. Why does this matter? The functionality for some of the things I want to include in this next version are much easier in PHP and there are many more choices of tools and software applications already out there that we could integrate if the site was rebuilt in PHP. The major roadblock in switching to PHP is that EVERY line of code and every page of the website would have to be rewritten. Nothing can be reused. The artist’s profiles, the galleries, the forums, the calendar… everything would need to rebuilt from scratch in PHP. The major benefit of switching, however, is that many solutions already exist that I could use as a framework, such as calendar systems and content management systems. I know this post entry is a bit technical here but I want to document the full picture for everyone as we go.
So, over the past few weeks and months, I’ve been researching the pros and cons of keeping ASP versus switching entirely to PHP. I’ve 95% decided to switch to PHP. The long term benefits greatly outweigh the short term effort and headache of switching. As I mentioned already, many content management systems exist written in PHP, such as Wordpress and Expression Engine, which this blog is currently using. Part of the reason I’m using Expression Engine now for this ArtFlurry.com blog is to test the features and give this framework a test-drive. So far I’m very impressed. Wordpress is typically just a blogging tool but you can get creative and break it out of the box and extend it as a basic content management system. (As an aside for those not familiar with a content management system or CMS, Wikipedia provides extensive information on the subject). Expression Engine is designed as a true content management system and made not just for blogging. It includes many community features such as forums and user profiles that would be important to a new SeattleArtists.com. The problem with using a framework such as Wordpress or Expression Engine, or any CMS for that matter, is that it is a canned software package and is pre-built to accommodate many different people and their projects. SeattleArtists.com is a custom built community with specific needs for artists and their artwork, integrated with a member subscription system through PayPal.com and a calendar and forums. It would require hard work and careful planning to integrate a pre-built CMS into the existing functionality of SeattleArtists.com. Using a CMS to start with is still definitely a consideration since much of the code exists and is tested and works. I go back and forth almost daily on what direction to take.
There is a long list of “must-haves” for the new SeattleArtists.com platform, whether it is a completely custom built solution or a half-and-half hybrid of custom code and an existing CMS package. But, I’m hoping to keep these posts here at Project SeattleArtists.com fairly short and informative so I’ll go into the development of my wish list of features next time.
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