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Programmers: Java/PHP or Flash?

by JLP
9 replies
A colleague is getting ready to have an ecommerce site developed. Site will be for personalized products where customer can upload photos.

Question: Would you recommend site be developed using Java/PHP or Flash? Primarily concerned with any multiple browser compatibility issues. Also any advantages/disadvantages.

Thank you in advance.
#flash #java or php #programmers
  • Profile picture of the author Ben Roy
    Those options aren't really analagous. Flash is a client side (browser) technology, whereas PHP and Java are server side technologies. The choice to use Flash would usually be independant of whether you built the site in PHP, Java, or ASP.NET. My personal recommendation is that you go with PHP because it will be the easiest to find someone else to support. I'd skip the Flash if I were you.

    Ben
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  • Profile picture of the author write-stuff
    Flash is difficult for search engines to decipher so I would avoid any heavy dependence on that. There are a lot more sophisticated client/server options than PHP. You may have the environment more dictated by the person you choose to do the development.

    - Russ
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
    If you want to develop a site like this I suggest you seek out a suitable development firm to advise you or aim to recruit someone with a good technical understanding on to your team.

    Work with the technologies the development firm you choose recommend. Don't try to make the decision yourself and then go hunting for someone who'll do it in the technology you've picked out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ben Roy
    One other thing to mention. There are plenty of free ecommerce software packages out there already. I just checked my Fantastico installer on the control panel of my web host and it listed 3:

    CubeCart
    OS Commerce
    Zen Cart

    I don't know anything about those, but starting with an existing software package is almost always better than starting from scratch. Most of the bugs are already worked out for you. Your friend may want to look into having the developer customize one of those packages rather than write from the ground up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Devan Koshal
    DONT EVER USE FLASH FOR AN ECOMMERCE STORE. lol

    There is a list of reasons...

    Virtually No SEO
    Wont work for all clients
    Your bandwidth bill will explode
    Takes ages to load
    Not very secure
    You wont be able to use Refresh or the back or forward links on your browser.

    and more... stick with server side programming.

    Smaller areas of flash are ok but the whole store in flash is just a big no.
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  • Profile picture of the author Darren Mothersele
    Good advice Devan.

    Another good option to throw into the mix is Drupal + Ubercart. The benefit of this is that you have a powerful eCommerce system with Ubercart and then you can use the power of CCK within Drupal to create highly customisable product types.

    Several people above also said let the developers pick the tech, and not select the developers based on the tech. It's a good idea to have some background knowledge of what you are wanting built, but can't agree more that you should give developers free reign to select appropriate technologies, as long as they justify their choices.

    A starting point would be to approach a few development houses and ask them how they would do it and what they would charge.
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    • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
      Originally Posted by Darren Mothersele View Post

      Several people above also said let the developers pick the tech, and not select the developers based on the tech. It's a good idea to have some background knowledge of what you are wanting built, but can't agree more that you should give developers free reign to select appropriate technologies, as long as they justify their choices.
      This does fall into somewhat of a catch 22 though. Giving developers free reign to choose their technology "as long as they can justify it". Who do they need to justify it to? If the whole point of letting them pick is you can't pick yourself, its going to be hard to judge whether their justifications hold water or not.

      I can't emphasise enough how important it is to have a good technologist on your team.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChristianM
    PHP is based on the server so there can be no browser compatibility issues...
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    • Profile picture of the author JLP
      Wow. You guys are awesome. I stepped away from the computer for a few hours and came back to all these replies.

      Thank you very much for taking the time to give your input; much appreciated! Will share your replies.
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