Help please - choosing a language for my web site

Report · May 30, 2007

Please help me figure out which language to use for my website rewrite. I am overwhelmed by the different technologies and don't have enough experience to know which one is best. CF, ASP .NET, something else? At this point I feel like I need to learn ASP .NET, CF, PHP, and more, just to figure out which one to use. I am familiar with ASP (old ASP, not .NET), which I realize is outdated, but I am willing to learn any or all of the technologies I need to understand. None of them look particularly difficult but I don't want to throw away a month of my life learning say ASP .NET if CF is a better technology.

The website I am rewriting is http://www.treasuredfinds.com . It's a simple e-commerce site; I wrote the current ASP version in 2000 using notepad. It works fine, but it's kind of ugly and since the UI and application are intertwined whenever I try to change anything I create a cascade of problems.

My goals:
Separate design using CSS and DIVs so that the site is maintainable and I can change the layout/style without worrying about creating problems.

Enable "2nd generation" web features, like eliminating product pages so that when a thumbnail is clicked the product info is shown in an AP DIV on the side instead of in a new page. Actually, and maybe this is a pipe dream, but I'd like the entire shopping process to take place on one screen... the left would show current a current product detail, and current shopping cart info, the right side would be product thumbnails that you could browse and sort through.

I use an application I wrote in VB6 to perform database synchronization so there isn't any back end stuff to worry about - the tables are already there, waiting to be used by a better front end.

Any advice would be appreciated. I apologize if this is too much of a noob question.

Report · May 30, 2007

There really is no defacto answer. It depends on the developer. Personally,
I love CF, but that doesn't mean you will.

It really comes down to what you are comfortable working with and what your
server supports (if using shared hosting).

--
Bryan Ashcraft (remove brain to reply)
Web Application Developer
Wright Medical Technology, Inc.
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"mgelber" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:f3kibv$ofl$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Please help me figure out which language to use for my website rewrite. I
> am
> overwhelmed by the different technologies and don't have enough experience
> to
> know which one is best. CF, ASP .NET, something else? At this point I feel
> like
> I need to learn ASP .NET, CF, PHP, and more, just to figure out which one
> to
> use. I am familiar with ASP (old ASP, not .NET), which I realize is
> outdated,
> but I am willing to learn any or all of the technologies I need to
> understand.
> None of them look particularly difficult but I don't want to throw away a
> month
> of my life learning say ASP .NET if CF is a better technology.
>
> The website I am rewriting is http://www.treasuredfinds.com . It's a
> simple
> e-commerce site; I wrote the current ASP version in 2000 using notepad. It
> works fine, but it's kind of ugly and since the UI and application are
> intertwined whenever I try to change anything I create a cascade of
> problems.
>
> My goals:
> Separate design using CSS and DIVs so that the site is maintainable and I
> can
> change the layout/style without worrying about creating problems.
>
> Enable "2nd generation" web features, like eliminating product pages so
> that
> when a thumbnail is clicked the product info is shown in an AP DIV on the
> side
> instead of in a new page. Actually, and maybe this is a pipe dream, but
> I'd
> like the entire shopping process to take place on one screen... the left
> would
> show current a current product detail, and current shopping cart info, the
> right side would be product thumbnails that you could browse and sort
> through.
>
> I use an application I wrote in VB6 to perform database synchronization so
> there isn't any back end stuff to worry about - the tables are already
> there,
> waiting to be used by a better front end.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated. I apologize if this is too much of a noob
> question.
>

Report · May 30, 2007

> I am familiar with ASP (old ASP, not .NET)

If you are familiar with ASP and married to Microsoft technologies, then
learn ASP.net

If you are familiar with ASP and NOT married to Microsoft technologies, then
consider PHP.

But...CF and Ruby on Rails would be viable options too.

One isn't better than the other in a general sense.

-Darrel

Report · May 31, 2007

If you just want to revamp the look and feel of your site, you can stick
with regular ASP, as it will certaily mean less work. And you can use all
the new web UI stuff with classic ASP, too. To get that right, your time
would be best spent learning JavaScript instead.

That being said, .NET has a lot of useful features that classic ASP required
third-party COM objects for, and you can still use the VB syntax you've
become familiar with using ASP.

I'd say learn JavaScript, update your site, then learn .NET and see where
that takes you regarding new ways you might want to use the Web.

"mgelber" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:f3kibv$ofl$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Please help me figure out which language to use for my website rewrite. I
> am
> overwhelmed by the different technologies and don't have enough experience
> to
> know which one is best. CF, ASP .NET, something else? At this point I feel
> like
> I need to learn ASP .NET, CF, PHP, and more, just to figure out which one
> to
> use. I am familiar with ASP (old ASP, not .NET), which I realize is
> outdated,
> but I am willing to learn any or all of the technologies I need to
> understand.
> None of them look particularly difficult but I don't want to throw away a
> month
> of my life learning say ASP .NET if CF is a better technology.
>
> The website I am rewriting is http://www.treasuredfinds.com . It's a
> simple
> e-commerce site; I wrote the current ASP version in 2000 using notepad. It
> works fine, but it's kind of ugly and since the UI and application are
> intertwined whenever I try to change anything I create a cascade of
> problems.
>
> My goals:
> Separate design using CSS and DIVs so that the site is maintainable and I
> can
> change the layout/style without worrying about creating problems.
>
> Enable "2nd generation" web features, like eliminating product pages so
> that
> when a thumbnail is clicked the product info is shown in an AP DIV on the
> side
> instead of in a new page. Actually, and maybe this is a pipe dream, but
> I'd
> like the entire shopping process to take place on one screen... the left
> would
> show current a current product detail, and current shopping cart info, the
> right side would be product thumbnails that you could browse and sort
> through.
>
> I use an application I wrote in VB6 to perform database synchronization so
> there isn't any back end stuff to worry about - the tables are already
> there,
> waiting to be used by a better front end.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated. I apologize if this is too much of a noob
> question.
>