Personalized websites

[Floppyman]

Hi all,

I'm wondering what kinds of webdesign tools and technologies (scripting languages etc.) would be good to use for developing a website/portal where you create an account, logon and then can create your own personal profile/subsite? There would be also be options to search subsites of other users etc. Would this all be database driven then? What database technology might work best? I would appreciate if some of you experienced web developers could give me some advice. Thanks in advance.

[Force Flow]

Most people would suggest a LAMP setup (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), but you can also do WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP).

The easiest way to start is with appserv if you have no idea where to begin. http://www.pcmech.com/show/network/690/2/

You could also use java instead of PHP, if you're familiar with it (I would suggest Eclipse with the WTP for development, and Tomcat for the server)

[mairving]

Appserv is really for those that choose to build a website and host it at their home. Really not the best way to go for a number of reasons, chief among them security, availability and possible loss of ISP account.

Floppy, I am not sure exactly what you are looking to develop. It almost sounds like myspace. Developing a portal could be done quite easily. The community part would be the most difficult. It would be much like building a forum. Starting out is difficult and slow.

[Floppyman]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, I guess what I'm trying to develop is a community based and thus similar to myspace or facebook, yet the focus is completely different. What sorts of tools would be good for developing such a site where one can login to the portal and then make their own profile/subsite, plus search others? Are the commercial or open source tools available for this sort of development or is it all done from scratch? Thanks again for your help.

[Force Flow]

You're probably looking at PHP or Java servlet/jsp page development with heavy reliance on a database. Sitepoint.com may be a decent place to start, but a lot of the articles will be over your head if you've never delt with the language(s). I occasionally reference their articles, and you will find some great ones and some poorly written ones, but for the most part, you'll gain something out of them.

If you're going in the direction of java, there's a few places I can direct you to.

[Floppyman]

Originally Posted by Force Flow You're probably looking at PHP or Java servlet/jsp page development with heavy reliance on a database. Sitepoint.com may be a decent place to start, but a lot of the articles will be over your head if you've never delt with the language(s). I occasionally reference their articles, and you will find some great ones and some poorly written ones, but for the most part, you'll gain something out of them. If you're going in the direction of java, there's a few places I can direct you to.

Thanks force, that gives me some direction. What do you see as the pro's and con's of PHP vs. Java? I'm pretty proficient in Java (it was the main language used during my CS major) so maybe that's the better route to go. Although I would be willing to learn PHP if it's better for my intended application. Thanks again.

[Force Flow]

I haven't touched PHP much, but from what I've read about it, it can do everything java does, but it doesn't complain as much with sloppy code. Java, on the other hand, will throw a fit if you do some really sloppy work.

With java, it's easier to work in OOP, and in PHP...it's more of an afterthough if it's used at all.

On the other had, PHP is very prevailent in terms of support and a large knowledgebase, while java is significantly smaller. Kinda like Windows vs all the alternative O/S's.

My little quickie comparison is by no means a complete or through one, so you may want to search for comparisons. Keep in mind that 90% of the programmers out there will be biased towards their language of choice (I'm biased towards java being I was introduced to it in a similar fashion as you).

This article should serve fairly well as an intro to J2EE servlets: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/java-servlets-1

For a development suite, I'd suggest eclipse with WST: http://download3.eclipse.org/webtool...-200604280245/

Eclipse is the main IDE, and WST is an add-on for J2EE development, but so you don't have to futz with downloading all the dependant packages and dealing with incompatabilities between versions, get one of the all-in-one packs.

The version I linked to is the one I'm currently using. It's stable, as far as I know, although that changes from version to version (there is a newer version of eclipse and WST out).

The other thing you'll need is the jdk (java SE developent kit 5.0) if you don't have it already.

(edit: download the Java EE 5 SDK SOA Starter Kit Preview or if you scroll down, ONLY download the SDK under "Download the Components Independently" called "Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 5.0 Update 6" so you don't have to install any uncessessary extras.)

Last but not least, you'll need a java server. JBOSS, Tomcat, and Resin are the most popular ones. Tomcat being the easiest to setup, understand, and maintain, and Resin for more advanced users who know what they're doing.

[mairving]

PHP 5 offers great improvement in OOP.

If you know Java you could pick up PHP fairly quickly.

I found this entry on Wikipedia that might be helpful to you.

[Floppyman]

Thanks Force and mairving for your help, I really appreciate it.

I'll look at those java links in more detail. BTW, nice find mairving. The links on that wikipedia site will keep me busy researching for the next couple days on how to exactly accomplish what I have in mind. If I have any further questions, I'll post back in this thread or start a new one. Thanks again for providing me with some direction in which to start out.