Where do i start off if i want to start a website that can sell things.

[br_prashant]

Might sund a little too ambitious but i am trying to plan to build a small website in about 50-60 odd days that can sell pens and pencils around my town. I would like to know if someone could help in telling me where to start.
I am using opensuse 10.3 and am running out of space and so planning to clean my hardisk and start fresh. What all will i need to install.

I am reading XML and PHP (starting to). Also wondering if groovy on grails framework is a good framework to start building my website on. If so what should i start learning.?

Then servers and databses.. I know apchee is the best. but whenwill it be an absolute necessity for me to work on it? After the design is over or even before i start developing?

[elija]

Unless you want to code your own as a learning exercise (and it will be) I would have a look for open source products. There will be plenty out there. One example is oscommerce, which being easy to get up and running is a complete mare to change.

If you want to do it yourself, then I would recommend looking into PHP 5, MySQL 5 and Apache 2.2. You will also need to understand web security and the various attacks that can hit a web site so that you can code to prevent them.

It is not only the site that can be attacked so you will also need to understand how to secure the underlying operating system, the web server and the database server.

As you can probably tell, building an ecommerce site from scratch is not a small project. If you still want to go for it, think about the basics first of all. Code to web standards and so that it works by outputting unstyled html. Style last.

Install apache and PHP and MySQL straight away and get used to them. Even as one man project I would recommend using subversion to manage your version control, that way when (yes when) you really screw up you can just revert back to a previous version rather than trying to remember what the hell you did to get into the mess you have got into.... I have experience of this It is unpleasant to say the least!


Good luck with the project.

[br_prashant]

Thanks elija.

I do want to do it myself.

There is another thing i would like to ask. How much memory would these three take up for running? Specially Apache and MySQL?

Also would you like to reffer some book that might be of use. Not as a look and code book but to understand the underlying theories.

[smolloy]

Apache and MySQL are very light on memory when running if no one is currently accessing your site, but the real unknown variable is how much traffic you expect.

If you're very successful, then you will need a system that can handle a larger load.

[elija]

Agreed, but with MySQL, the momory you have the better as you can tweak many different caches which will dramatically improve performance. Obviously, you will notice that more on a busy site

As to a book, I don't actually know. I've learnt this though having a go, reading articles in magazines and online. When it comes to this subject Google is really your friend.

For development, try and break the project down into smaller chunks based on functional areas, some that spring to mind are catalogue, basket, checkout and content pages.

I may have put a slightly misleading thing in my previous post. When I talked about designing last, I meant visual design. The way I would approach this is as follows.

1. Produce high level spec of system (you have done that)
2. Identify functional areas
3. Design sytem workflow between functional areas - again high level
4. Spend some time getting a basic view of each functional area

By now you know where you think you are going. Don't worry, as the project progresses this will change. It always does

5. Pick a functional area and produce a detailed design of the system.
6. Code and test.

It is possible to break down each area further. Test early and test often. It is better to change two lines of code and test than to change two hundred lines of code and then test. At the very least only change one function at a time.

When I talk about design above I am not talking about visual design which should be left to the end, plan for it though by including the CSS classes in your output.

Hope this helps

[edit]
Some things to Google:
Cross site scripting
SQL Injection
Securing my website from attacks

(Remember: don't have nightmares )
[/edit]

[br_prashant]

hmmm... i am starting the entire design building process from my laptop with a AMD X2 processor witha 2Gb ram.

I feel it must be decent enough for the starting but i seem to be a littel confused..

Once i get the apache server to run along with MySQL and keep all the required PHP files how do i test?

Any ideas to test from different architectures?