I want to put up my own website!
Posted on September 10, 2007 - Filed Under ASP.NET, PHP |
Well, here are the different Web Development Issues that you should consider if you want to have one:
Hosting the site
Webhosting is a service wherein your web pages (website files) will be stored in a computer which is connected to the internet and payment will be made usually in a monthly basis with rates depending on the size of the web space or storage taken from the host storage device. Static websites (normally made up of pure HTML documents) which only contains text and simple images only requires small web space. For example, a personal website of this nature actually requires only up to 5mb of disk space. Dynamic web applications (ASP.Net, PHP, Java), especially those that uses database service requires more disk space (web space) depending on the volume of data being processed in the website. Application support must also be considered in order to determine which development platform will be used for the website.
The name of your site
When the webpages or files of the website is already uploaded to the Host computer, it is very important to register an appropriate domain name or the URL to be used in browsing the site. Example are yahoo.com, microsoft.com etc. Common site extensions are EDU, COM, ORG, NET and others, sometimes extended with PH, US, KR, and other country codes. Domain names are being paid also aside from the webhosting and are usually being taken care of by the ISP (Internet Service Provider) and are renewable in a yearly basis.
CGI - What is it and do I need it?
Basic CGI (Common Gateway Interface) gives one the capability of collecting, storing and displaying collected data via a web page. For example, a hotel business may wish to allow customers to make online room reservations and advance payments.
Cost of development - simple sites (i.e. no CGI)
It will be less expensive to have a website if your are going to do it yourself or have a friend to do it for you for free. If that is not possible expect to pay between $35 and $60 per hr. for “simple” websites. The word “simple” implies to websites with just text, images and email capability. I.e., individuals who browse your site can only contact you via email or ancient technologies such as phone or post office mail. There are certain functionalities that may make a website much more complex than the latter. Certain scripting languages can be used to add these functionalities like a loan calculator for instance, and this will add more to your budget cost. Programming to make the website more interactive will surely increase the hourly rate.
Access to the web site
The website developer will need FTP access to your web site. The FTP program gives one the ability to copy files from one computer to another on the Internet. Your programmer will normally do all development work off-site and periodically copy the new web (html) files to the live web site. Although it is generally considered more convenient for the programmer to be able to do the transfers, some may wish to withhold this capability from the programmer for security/work-approval reasons. Complex web development almost always require the programmer to have access to the site, however. More on this is given below.
Cost of development - complex sites (i.e. CGI)
I have already mentioned above some of the basic capabilities of CGI. I would consider CGI capability as the border line between simple and interactive web page development. The cost of “moderately difficult” Web page development might run from $50 to $100 per hour. Websites with “Shopping cart” development and credit card processing can be even more complex than basic CGI and will generally reflect a much more hourly rate. Control or supervisory privilege on the host computer is another technology issue here. The programmer may need to perform some development jobs on the website. This is often unacceptable to many ISPs. Other ISPs may offer particular services such as secure credit card transactions or limited services such as CGI using perl only. This is the reason why most complex web sites have their own servers running in the internet.
Managing a web site
Keeping web (html) files up-to-date on a web site via ftp is one level of management. Managing the computers and their web server software on a web site is a much more involved task. This often requires much of the time of a full-time employee like one who might work for a larger ISP.Some companies prefer using Web-based CMS or content management systems to lessen the burden of maintaining ang updating contents of the website. Some of these CMS things are being discussed in this blog site.
The REAL cost of development
This is the REAL thing, the most important thing to keep in mind:
“Real cost of development is not determined by the hourly rate. A professional programmer who can produce a site at $60 per hour in 40 hours is, obviously, more valuable than a novice who requires 80 hours at $40 per hour and produces a lesser quality site. User satisfaction is the ultimate goal of website developers. Remember, the difference in usability of the developed sites can mean a substantial difference in income generated from the sites.”
These are the basic factors that we should always look into when we want to put up our own website.
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