How does one develop a sophisticated website...

[LawyerRon]

A friend of mine owns a motorcycle accessory business and currently has a basic website with some crude e-commerce capability. E-commerce is currently about 5% of his business. He's looking to take the business to the next level in terms of e-commerce and would like to have a more sophisticated site like Mwave or Newegg has. I guess my question is how does one develop a site such as Mwave's or Newegg's where you can show your inventory "live", ie, whether the part is in stock or out of stock, as well as sending automatic order confirmations and tracking numbers when the parts are shipped? TIA

[AnotherMuggle]

You would need to use PHP in order to tie the website in with an SQL database with the companies stock levels, another database with registered customers etc etc etc.

As far as the interface for the site goes you would need to use CSS styles so you can manipulate the layout and styling of the site to your taste.

[faulkner132]

For something business critical like this, I would look into a commercial package. It would be quite expensive to develop something as sophisticated as an establised retailer.

If you want to go the free route, there is always OS Commerce (http://www.oscommerce.com), however I would only recommend this if you have access to somone who knows PHP quite well.

[AnotherMuggle]

I have to agree on that faulkner...what little experience I have with PHP has been particularly ugly lol

[Chris_Rootes_Wizard]

Hummm, PHP is Long, longer than html, wow, take a long time.

"I have to agree on that faulkner...what little experience I have with PHP has been particularly ugly lol"

Lol Do you know basic HTML, i do very basic like

Boo!

or

Boo!

or

Boo!

Lol Or bbcode?

Boo!

or

Boo!

or

Boo!

EDIT, sorry

[AnotherMuggle]

I can do pretty decent HTML and also PHP, CSS, Javascript, Java, and some pretty good C++.

I'm studying Computer Science with Games Technology at university so I've had about 2 years of pretty intense experience of coding and programming.

I'm certainly no pro but I know how to do most things.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by tomkear2006 I can do pretty decent HTML and also PHP, CSS, Javascript, Java, and some pretty good C++. I'm studying Computer Science with Games Technology at university so I've had about 2 years of pretty intense experience of coding and programming. I'm certainly no pro but I know how to do most things.

I would highly discourage you from developing your own system to do this. Simply put, it will be expensive to develop and maintain. Remember proprietary software typically is not documented well (if at all) by the developer so you are practically dependent on them for that system.

Additionally, knowing how to do something is one thing, but if you are going to work on an existing system like OS Commerce, you have to know how the application works... figure out it's design and then customize it to your needs. You can quickly consume hours or days doing something which is seeming simple.

[LawyerRon]

Thanks for the info folks.

Faulkner,
What is the "commercial package" you refer too.? I think one thing that is important to them is the ability to maintain the website and make changes in-house. Is this possible?

[mairving]

OSCommerce is a good choice. There are plenty of people out there that can help you develop the site as well. It doesn't require knowledge of PHP/MySQL to get it up and running. It just requires it for any customization.

[mairving]

Originally Posted by Chris_Rootes_Wizard Hummm, PHP is Long, longer than html, wow, take a long time. "I have to agree on that faulkner...what little experience I have with PHP has been particularly ugly lol" Lol Do you know basic HTML, i do very basic like Boo! or Boo! or Boo! Lol Or bbcode? Boo! or Boo! or Boo! EDIT, sorry

Chris_Rootes_Wizard, the idea here is to try and help people answer their questions, not show your HTML skills for no reason. Basic principle is that if you don't have anything to add that is helpful, don't add anything.

[LawyerRon]

mairving,
(Long time-no talk to)
Bear with me, but I'm just an old time pc mechanic, ie, don't know anything about websites. Now comes the newbie question: What is OSCommerce?

[Alaron]

http://www.oscommerce.com/

[Chris_Rootes_Wizard]

"Chris_Rootes_Wizard, the idea here is to try and help people answer their questions, not show your HTML skills for no reason. Basic principle is that if you don't have anything to add that is helpful, don't add anything."

Er, yeah, thats why i said sorry, i would of got rid of it, but i didnt know what to say, so i kept it in.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by LawyerRon What is the "commercial package" you refer too.? I think one thing that is important to them is the ability to maintain the website and make changes in-house. Is this possible?

I have no idea, but I have never researched a system like this. I am sure there are some available if you run some searches. My point was just for a "mission critical" application, make sure you either have the resources and know-how to support it yourself or you have a contact for support (hence the commercial package).

Originally Posted by mairving OSCommerce is a good choice. There are plenty of people out there that can help you develop the site as well. It doesn't require knowledge of PHP/MySQL to get it up and running. It just requires it for any customization.

True for out of the box installs, however 99% of businesses will want to customize the overall look so it will be unique. This requires some PHP and HTML knowledge. Adding contributions after you have done this can get tricky as well as you may have modified a bit of the code.


Definitely give OS Commerce a shot though. You can't beat the price and you will be able to tell after a week or so whether or not it will work for you.

[LawyerRon]

Thanks for all the info folks.

One more thing, I would like opinions on his current site at: www.pro-one.com

Any info, ie., give me the good and the bad that you feel should be addressed.

Currently, what my friend does not like about the site (done by a website developer) is that his inventory is not "live", ie linked to a database, and it takes days to make a change as he must email the people that maintain the site to make any changes. TIA