Build a site like advert.ie or craigslist

steve_

Hey guys i wonder if anyone could say what languages sites like adverts.ie were coded in? Id like to learn php and wanted to give myself a project to work on. A simple version of a classified advert site just running locally. Where i could create new ads and such. What would be decent languages to achieve something like this? Iv only had previous experience using XHTML and CSS.

Webmonkey

I'm sure it's PHP/MySQL with a modrewrite for the nice URLs

steve_

In terms of a personal project, is it too ambitious? Id like to have something to work towards instead of doing a host of different small little project with nothing really to show for. Me and a friend are looking to work on this project together. He has studied C# and ASP in college and suggests we should go with that. But with me having no experience im inclined to take his word for it. Would be still be able to build the same site using C# and ASP.NET? Is the php route easier to learn or are they both just as involved?

Eoin

I am pretty sure that the reason that most the classified sites fail is not because of the technology, more because it's a very crowded market.

If you want to do it as a proof of concept, then it's not overly ambitious at all. If you want to actually make money out of it, then you'll find it hard.

It's absolutely possible using C#.

tricky D

Eoin wrote: »

I am pretty sure that the reason that most the classified sites fail is not because of the technology, more because it's a very crowded market.

Crowded market is one reason. Also so many of the implementations are poor and the marketing resources not there or badly executed. We used to get about one new site every week or two in the site review or Entrepreneurial & Business Management forums and most made the same mistakes pointing to poor research and planning.

steve_

Cheers guys for the help. I guess the root of my problem is what should i use to code it? Iv heard asp.net and C# are quite hard to learn. Im familiar with HTML/ CSS and the basics of PHP. And id like to develop it further using PHP.......guess i just answered my own question. But with so many different options for developing sites its hard to know what to go with, especially when your a novice.

As for the site i know the classified ads market is jam packed. But my idea is targeted towards a specific set of products. So its more aimed at niche buyers and currently there isnt a dedicated site for these products in Ireland. So i thought why not attempt this myself and see where it gets me. Mainly i just want to use it as a learning project but if there was ever a chance to monetize it then thats a bonus.

Eoin

C# isn't that hard to learn. I went from an ASP background to .net a good few years ago, and I think the biggest hurdle was separating the HTML from the server-side code as i was used to them being quite tightly coupled. That's been my experience with php as well on the few projects I've worked with it.

steve_

So what would you suggest? Going wit C# or PHP? I want to commit to one language to start out but im struggling to decide on which one mianly because iv never had experience with them and dont know each ones capabilities

John_Mc

steve_ wrote: »

So what would you suggest? Going wit C# or PHP? I want to commit to one language to start out but im struggling to decide on which one mianly because iv never had experience with them and dont know each ones capabilities

They are both server-side technologies that you can leverage to do the same thing. Both are free to use, although hosting ASP.net is a bit more expensive than PHP because you need a Microsoft hosting package.

I'd recommend ASP.NET MVC 3.0 with LINQ-TO-SQL or Entity Framework. I am a .NET developer though, so I am biased

Webmonkey

I'd go with PHP for the simple fact it's probably a lot quicker to get set up, it's free, most hosts support it and there is an incredible amount of documentation / help out there.

But then I'm biased too, though I have worked with C#.NET a lot, but not on web projects.

John_Mc

Webmonkey wrote: »

I'd go with PHP for the simple fact it's probably a lot quicker to get set up, it's free, most hosts support it and there is an incredible amount of documentation / help out there.

But then I'm biased too, though I have worked with C#.NET a lot, but not on web projects.

Dunno about the text in bold now. I tried setting up Apache on my Windows 7 PC and it was an absolute pain, and took far longer than installing .NET framework and web developer express. Could be just me though

Webmonkey

John_Mc wrote: »

Dunno about the text in bold now. I tried setting up Apache on my Windows 7 PC and it was an absolute pain, and took far longer than installing .NET framework and web developer express. Could be just me though

Well yeah it's a pain if you want to set it up manually yourself, installing PHP/editing http.conf etc, but if you download WAMP or something similar it only a 2 min installation.

But then that could be just me too

John_Mc

Webmonkey wrote: »

Well yeah it's a pain if you want to set it up manually yourself, installing PHP/editing http.conf etc, but if you download WAMP or something similar it only a 2 min installation.

But then that could be just me too

I knew there had to be something easier!

Eoin

I had PHP running on IIS really quickly, though not having much experience with PHP, I don't know if it's very limited or something.

http://php.iis.net

The main problem I've had with PHP is that it doesn't seem to separate the business and presentation tiers too well, though that could just be the implementations that I've seen to-date.

Webmonkey

Eoin wrote: »

I had PHP running on IIS really quickly, though not having much experience with PHP, I don't know if it's very limited or something.

http://php.iis.net

The main problem I've had with PHP is that it doesn't seem to separate the business and presentation tiers too well, though that could just be the implementations that I've seen to-date.

Yes I agree that it is very easy for logic and presentation to be highly coupled if you are not careful.

But recently I worked on a small project with the CakePHP framework that uses the MVC pattern and I have to say it impressed me a lot. HTML and business logic almost totally seperated. The good thing is you have to stick to that system.

Other frameworks probably have similar ideas.

But it's down to the programmer. But for learning something for a novice, I think PHP would be easier to learn.

km991148

Webmonkey wrote: »

Yes I agree that it is very easy for logic and presentation to be highly coupled if you are not careful.

This can happen in any language/environment..

I too would be biased toward .net - especially now with frameworks such as MVC - there are no issues setting it up (assuming you are on windows!!) many hosts support it and there is also lots of documentation covering it.

It also ships with a rich IDE which has many time saving and productivity benefits over the tools used for other environments;

professore

If you use Eclipse with PHP it's a fabulous IDE.

You CAN write really messy code very easily with PHP, but I guess that's true of any language. PHP's weak typing makes it easier though.

If you have learned OOP already then PHP is easy to learn and will run pretty much anywhere. There's also tons of open source apps out there ready to go.

For this kind of script, look here: http://www.hotscripts.com/category/php/scripts-programs/classified-ads/

For web work it is my language of choice.

steve_

Cheers lads for the advice i think im going to go with PHP. For he beginning anyways, hopefully ill learn quite a bit from it which i can transfer to another language once im gotten familiar. Thanks again