Member Avatar for server_crash

Is there some advantage of programming and doing everything on your website yourself? I wanted to at first, and the deeper I got the more I realized how long it would take. I know tools are out there that can do about everything for you, but I wanted to do everything myself and can't see how that's possible. Anyone got any suggetions or comments about this? Were you in a similar situation?

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Short answer for : build what makes your product unique, reuse everything else. That keeps schedule, reduces risk, and still lets you learn by picking a few noncritical pieces to code from scratch.

Use this quick decision checklist before committing to hand-coding a feature:

  • Business value: Is this feature a competitive differentiator or a commodity users expect?
  • Time & cost: How long to build now, and how long to maintain it later?
  • Security/compliance: Does the feature touch payments or sensitive data (in which case prefer hosted/providers)? See OWASP and PCI guidance for common risks (OWASP Top Ten and PCI Security Standards Council).
  • Ecosystem health: Are there mature libraries/plugins with active maintainers, permissive licenses, and clear extension points?

A practical workflow that balances learning and delivery: define a small MVP, pick proven components for commodity needs (auth, payments, forums, uploads), and write glue and the unique business logic yourself. Prototype integrations first so you can swap components later without a major rewrite. Keep the architecture modular, add automated tests, and document extension points so you can replace third-party parts as requirements grow.

This follows the tradeoffs , and hinted at but gives concrete next steps: list must-have vs nice-to-have features, evaluate 2-3 off-the-shelf options per feature (license, last update, support), integrate one as proof-of-concept, then decide whether the cost of a custom rewrite is justified. Protect production by prioritizing secure, maintained components for anything involving user data or money.

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Member Avatar for Dani

It depends what you mean by doing everything yourself. If you mean not outsourcing or hiring others to do parts, it can be very rewarding to do everything yourself, as well as save you money or a partnership. If you mean not using software such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc ... then maybe it's just biting your nose to spite your face.

Member Avatar for server_crash

I was talking about using software. I wanted to program every from the shopping cart to the html pages and all of that kind of stuff. I thought about having message boards and a chat room, but not sure about that. I just don't know if it's worth doing all of that(because it would take forever to program all of it) or should I just stick with software?

Member Avatar for chrisranjana

It depends. Sometimes you may want to use ready made scripts or tools which help you develop faster to meet client's deadlines and such.

Member Avatar for zippee

I would it depends how customise you want on your program. If you can get read script to incorporate within your other system, then why waste your time to develop and fixing bugs. For example, I use minibb to handle my forum, a ready script to handle file uploading etc. For scripts I can't find it online or not fit my requirements, I either develop it myself from ground, or copied and combined portions of different ready scripts.

This is how Internet so much useful.

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