developing complex website

Question

Hello guys,

I am an average developer who can program in php,ajax(jquery), mysql, html, css I'd am to develop a web2 standard university portal website with the following features

• fees payment,
• course registration
• viewing results online etc.
• easy adding of modules later (eg taking test online)

These are the technologies and considering using

• ajax(jqeury)
• Php
• Mysql
• css
• html

what are my best choices for development?

• symphony
• joomla
• design everything from ground up

The main idea is that i need a general advice when taking such task as big as these Another problem is costing. How would you cost these type of project (can you advise me here)

Answer 1

Your needs seem to be pretty specific, so a generic Content Managment System like Joomla won't do here.

I would certainly suggest using Zend Framework for PHP. Once you are comfortable with it, you can produce very readable and extensible code at blazing speed, but you cannot expect to use it to its full in two weeks.

ZF can be cumbersome for small applications, but it scales very well for anything bigger than really small.

For JavaScript, jQuery (with plugins for some specific tasks) is all you need.

Answer 2

Your question leaves a lot to be desired as much of it seems like wishful thinking rather than well thought out systems investigation and requirements gathering and saying things like "of course i will use xyz" is a real hostage to fortune. You also make no mention of your skills or experience level to undertake this and again have made the assumption that PHP will be used. Any one of these factors on their own could doom your efforts to long days and nights of painful anguish so you might want to address them first before dropping into frameworks/CRM's and Ajax mode.

Having said that if you are looking for something in the Education sector which you appear to be then Moodle is worth evaluating. It is a FOS PHP/Mysql based VLE, Virtual Learning Environment, used all round the world by small medium and large organisations, The Open University here in the UK and will provide out of the box functionality such as you mention. It is easy to skin, has a multitude of third party add ons and plugins, some free some paid for, and is for a reasonably skilled PHP developer accessible to write extra code, or modules to provide specifics to your local needs and requirements (assuming you have them worked out)