PHP, Cold Fusion, ASP or Dreamweaver?

**asun2art** · 10-24-2003, 07:05 PM

Ok, I need some advice about a website application. I work in a Photography house and we currently deliver photos to clients on a CD or through email. My boss wants to move everything online, to promote online delivery. We have T1, our own servers, networks etc. so that's not a problem.

What kind of web application should we be using to create pages with dynamic content such as popular stock photography sites like:

http://www.boardtactics.com/

How much would it cost for a template that we could use? Can dreamweaver achieve this dynamic thumbnail tables, etc. We want to incorporate Cumulus in the future also.

Any advice is geratly appreciated. For I am just a humble designer and intermediate Dreamweaver user.

**Lifeforce** · 10-24-2003, 07:38 PM

I'd go with PHP and mySql... use it to generate dynamic xml files... that would accomplish pretty much all you need. I'd go with PHP and MySql because (1) cost and (2) I've heard from several independent sources that ASP sucks. I dont know much about could fusion. Need help? Im available for contract jobs.

**MAXU$** · 10-24-2003, 07:44 PM

well... Personaly I go for Cold Fusion its really easy to work with.
Also Php and mysql are also good. but no to asp.

also i dono about dreamweaver i do everything in Notepad

**asun2art** · 10-27-2003, 02:05 PM

Ok, I found an example of what I need. All I need is a working template. http://www.boardtactics.com/ ---> I like the way you choose a make from the drop down list then a model. This is exactly what I am looking for. (only about 1/10th of the choices) Then you can furthur sort the list. So how much would it cost to contract out a working template?

**Lifeforce** · 10-27-2003, 02:24 PM

I dont know what your budget is like but I'd charge over $1000 for a custom template with that amount of detail.

**asun2art** · 10-27-2003, 05:10 PM

So for a searchable, customizable, scalable database I'm looking at $1200?

**Lifeforce** · 10-27-2003, 05:50 PM

Yeah, that sounds about right depending on the exact amount of detail.

You can email me bret@spiralhead.net if you'd like to discuss this any further. see ya.

**sk8Krog** · 10-27-2003, 06:00 PM

Originally posted by MAXU$
Also Php and mysql are also good. but no to asp.

I agree about the PHP and MySQL but why do you say no to ASP? Is there a downside that you see?

**Lifeforce** · 10-27-2003, 06:06 PM

PHP is open source. ASP costs a lot because you need Microsoft's server technology to run it and it's only as good as PHP at best.... and in my opinion, PHP is better. So why go with ASP?

**asun2art** · 10-27-2003, 07:52 PM

I appreciate the advice Lifeforce, but I will need to meet with the programer in person to discuss details so I will most likely find someone near us in the LA area. I will keep you in the loop if I need any more help. Thanks again.

**Lifeforce** · 10-27-2003, 07:59 PM

No prob. Hope it turns out good.

**sk8Krog** · 10-27-2003, 11:10 PM

Originally posted by Lifeforce
PHP is open source.

How do you mean? It is a server side language therefore the server is all that reads it before it is translated to the user.

ASP costs a lot because you need Microsoft's server technology to run it

That is true but for like what, $10 extra a month on a windows server? How desperate do you need to be if you are looking to do some good server side applications and programming, $10 should be the least of your worries.
Granted, Windows Server OS's are expensive if you are running your own server, but thats what you have to get past. It is created by the largest software corporation in the world and its good stuff.

and it's only as good as PHP at best....

Can you back that up? I am a major supporter of ASP and .NET but having never used the alternative, cannot say which is better, but relly on others intelligent opinions and experiences.
One I know of is that ASP is the only language that talks with SQL Server (the most widly used database language in the world).
ASP can integrate with VBScript (php does not) as well as javascript and other forms of it. ASP was built on the same grounds as php with features added.

So why go with ASP?

Well, for starters, it is an excellent language that when used as .NET technology carries well over to software such as VB and can be used to create awesome applications.
Autotrader.com actually uses ASP technology for their site along with pearl. Just study the extensions and do research.
Development firms use ASP to create their applications because it is good. Design firms generally use php because it is cheeper and they do not do advanced scripts.
Hotmail uses ASP technology. Granted it is Microsoft but does it work well? Yes
Many other major sites use CGI or Pearl to do their programming rather than PHP because of the possibilities.

So why use PHP?

**Lifeforce** · 10-28-2003, 12:42 AM

PHP is open source in that the source code is public as apposed to proprietary. I reckon this is the fundamental difference. You make some good points and I'm not going to pretend like I know more than I do and argue about technical differences but I'm willing to bet someone would gladly dispute your suggestion that ASP is capable of more advanced applications. I suppose my preference is partially biased in that PHP is what I know. I can say however that my breif encounter with VB script was generally unpleasant.

**asun2art** · 10-28-2003, 03:20 PM

Our company is making an attempt to make our photography accessible online. In order to do this we will need some kind of database shopping cart system, but instead of buying the items they click "download" We are looking for a model similar to this: http://www.boardtactics.com/ the way you can choose categories and then it sorts thumbnailed results accordingly.

Where do I go to find someone to do this kind of work?

what do you think they used in the URL provided?

**Lifeforce** · 10-28-2003, 03:32 PM

That can be done with PHP and MySql. If you want someone local, post an ad on craigslist.org or something.

**asun2art** · 10-28-2003, 03:33 PM

how much does it cost usually?

**Lifeforce** · 10-28-2003, 03:44 PM

I already mentioned how much I would charge for something like that. I can't really speak for developers in LA... it might be more given the cost of living there.

**Musicman** · 10-28-2003, 04:31 PM

Hi,

on a 50:50 race... the first of your links is obviously asp, while the second one goes to a Apache/PHP site

is the only language that talks with SQL Server (the most widly used database language in the world).

Sorry, the most widely used database language is SQL, and SQL server from microsoft is just one particular product using it. Others are mysql, oracle, postgres, and quite a few more. I am also sure php can interface with that same sql server, through use of ODBC
Choosing Perl (most often referred to as CGI these days) vs PHP is often a question of when development started ... and sometimes depends on the fact that a typical PHP server runs with restrictions on user rights (e.g. a script may be limited to something like a minute clock time)
Now, why PHP: perhaps simple portability - one of the questions that come up a lot with beginning flash scripters is simply making a mail form
- cgi: you need to specify location of perl and sendmail programs (and use an entirely different script on windows server)
- asp: there are different mailer components (eg CDONTS), with different scripting interfaces
- php: the mail() function relies on the sysadmin configuring the mail service correctly, user does not have to worry

Musicman

**sk8Krog** · 10-28-2003, 06:08 PM

Originally posted by Musicman
language is SQL,

my mistake, sorry musicman

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