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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I tend to agree with that. But then again, I subscribe to the
school of thought that code you know inside-out is always best. A couple of
years ago, I was asked to do a CMS job and developed my own extendable framework
that I use for pretty much everything. While someone looking at it wouldn’t be
familiar with it (and slower), I know it so well that I can do lots of complex
things fairly easily.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Generally, my advice would be the same. If this is a one-off
job and you’ll never get asked to anything remotely similar in the future, use
an off-the-shelf one. If not however, think about developing a framework with
basic functions and the ability to extend it easily. That way, it solves the
previous correspondents’ gripe about bug fixes as the basic functionality will
be solid – just might take 6 months to get it to that stage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Like with everything in life, it’s a question of compromise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>S<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> phpwm-bounces@mailman.lug.org.uk
[mailto:phpwm-bounces@mailman.lug.org.uk] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Andy Cowan<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 19 October 2010 13:30<br>
<b>To:</b> West Midlands PHP User Group<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Phpwm] Off the shelf shopping cart software vs
roll-your-own<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>On 19 October 2010 08:53, Bronwen Reid <<a
href="mailto:info@bronwenreid.com">info@bronwenreid.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'> A general, not very php
question here. When building a site for a client, I'd always rather roll
my own shopping cart software than work with an off-the-shelf product, whether
open-source or commercial.<br>
<br>
I've found that off-the-shelf is fine provided you want to do exactly what it
says on the tin and build a perfectly generic site - no monkey business, no
deviating from the norm. And then if you want anything extra - vouchers,
partial VAT, affiliate tracking, stock management, product options, upload
images, changes to site searching or navigation - this is where the fun starts.
It also seems to be where all the companies who are selling shopping cart
packages for $45 make their money - you're using their product and now you want
an extra features ... pay up buster.<br>
<br>
But is there anyone here who uses off-the-shelf and likes it ?<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>We've done both. And a mixture were we use off-the-shelf and
adapt it to suit. Frankly, bespoke always feels better, but always seems
to have more issues - minor bugs to fix, edge cases were the customer want to
do something funky that they feel is 'standard'. <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>Off-the-shelf always promises to be easier, but somehow
never quite works out like that - I've put this down to not having found the
right, flexible e-commerce package.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>At the end of the day, for us it comes down to budget. If
you have serious budget, you can have bespoke and it can do whatever you want.
If you want cheap, it has to be off-the-shelf, and you need to accept the
limitations.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>I'm still looking for an e-commerce solution that works as
well as modX does for content - I'd love to hear if anyone has any suggestions.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>A.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>
-- <br>
Andy Cowan<br>
<br>
Creative Director, W4 Creative Ltd<br>
Doubleday House, High Street<br>
Solihull. West Midlands. B91 3SJ<br>
<br>
Website development, hosting and internet strategy.<o:p></o:p></p>
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