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---
layout: post
title: Building a system on your own when you're a rookie
tags: [ development ]
type: post
published: true
---
If you're like me, you'll want to build your website the hard way, just so you
can get to know a little more on programming <abbr title="PHP: Hypertext
Preprocessor">PHP</abbr> and understanding certain aspects regarding its
planning and structure.
This post is taking place after a conversation I had with a friend of mine in
college about building a website from scratch, in order to learn PHP. Guess
what I told her ;)
So what if you just wanted to build a website to start a business right away
and never worry about if it works? Is _building a website / web application the
best solution_ if you wanna start off successful and harmlessly?
Know what you want
------------------
First of all, you need to focus on pointing out what you want. What is it?
* A static information website, with a couple forms?
* A blog?
* If you are a photographer, a photo gallery to use as a portfolio?
* A CRM application?
* ...
> With great power comes great responsability.
Whatever you are trying to do, it's important you know if you can do it or go
for already existing applications for your needs. If it's a blog or a photo
gallery, I'd suggest using a CMS like [Drupal](http://drupal.org) or
[Wordpress](http://wordpress.org). As for CRM platforms, there are lots of
them, like [XLSuite](http://xlsuite.org) or [SugarCRM](http://sugarcrm.com) are
in the list.
Choosing a framework or not
---------------------------
Again, if you're going the hard way, you will most likely discard the option of
using a framework such as the Zend framework or CodeIgniter, since these spare
you the application code management such as URL aliases and filter, database
abstraction / configuration and templating, amongst other things.
You have two choices:
* Not use a framework and learn everything you need from top to bottom. This is
particularly good choice if you're inexperienced but want to learn how to write
and manage an _application's architecture_ over programming logic.
* Choose a framework and focus only on the _programming logic,_ leaving
architecture details to the framework. This is a good choice if you have
acquired some knowledge over time and so you feel confident you will be using
such a framework more often, dedicating more time to the application itself and
not just its skeleton.
What resources you have
-----------------------
I only advise [PHP's official website](http://php.net). It contains all the
reference regarding the language and packages included such as database
operations, XML, Web services, everything. There's always _Twitter, IRC and
Google_ to help you out. Hey, it did for me, why not you?
End of story
------------
PHP is just so freaking easy. The hard part is organizing your thought. If you
need any help, drop by this website and reach me, I'd be glad to help. If you
have any resources or suggestions you'd like to mention, please do!
|
