On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 4:06 PM, Mark wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm in a difficult situation here. I have a list of requirements for an
> eCommerce system (Magento) where i'm getting mixed opinions about what to do.
> Note: i do consider myself to be a quite experienced PHP programmer and
> certainly have the skills to either make the extensions or make everything
> from scratch. Both do require month of work! First - for the complete picture
> - the list of requirements for the eCommerce system:
> - (buld into magento) Multishop has to be possible
> - Different payment modules have to be possible (buckaroo, afterpay, ...)
> - Online chat (with for example zopim) has to be possible
> - Advanced product permissions (magento only has "manage" not more specific
> as in "edit")
> - Setting pruduct margins
> - Abandoned cart alerts
> - One page checkout
> - Some javascript/ajax things like "instant cart"
> - A very specific order page (the "Booking and Reservations" plugin can do
> that)
>
> Thus far it's all oke. However, if i go to the magento irc channel i'm
> getting really mixed opinions about what to use and what to create myself.
> They basically say that i should prevent installing as much extensions as
> possible and try to make most of the things myself. This is where i'm getting
> really confused.
>
> There are two possible routes to take here.
> 1. I can go for the magento route and just take the very steep learning curve
> it has. It will be a slow process to make the modules required (mainly the
> advanced permissions, setting product margins and a abandoned cart
> extension). Two of those three are very difficult to make. Certainly if you
> consider that i'm just starting developing in any eCommerce system.
>
> 2. Considering the steep learning curve of making extensions for Magento it
> might be easier - in the long run - to build it all myself. In the beginning
> that will be an even slower process then using Magento, but once the
> structure is build it will be a much faster development process for any
> extension.
>
> I know it's usually a bad thing to reinvent the wheel and i am certainly not
> intending that. However, right now i really get the impression that i'm
> better of making it all myself. Both approaches take many months of
> development where the self made version is going to pay off in development
> time in the long run when compared to magento. I am just not sure what the
> best solution might be.
>
> So here is a list of pros and cons that i can think of for both approaches.
>
> Pros/Cons for using magento
> - [pro] a lot of existing extensions
> - [pro] i don't need to worry about security updates since the come from
> magento
> - [pro] living community around it to help out if there are any issues
> - [con] very steep learning curve
> - [con] not straightforward to start developing in
> - [con] takes a lot of time till you can even use the basics
>
> Pros/Cons for self made
> - [pro] Development will go a lot faster
> - [pro] i can make it more specific for one goal
> - [pro] a much easier extension model
> - [con] security all depends on me
> - [con] i have to make complicated extensions like buckaroo and afterpay
> myself
> - [con] no existing library of extensions to use
>
> Again, i'm puzzled by this. If i follow the #magento (on freenode) list then
> i should pick magento, but make every extension myself or only use the really
> good ones. Thus that will require a lot of time to develop them. I 'm
> guessing about half a year. Then again, if i make it all from the ground up
> it's probably also going to take half a year to develop (or slightly more)
> but it will obviously be much easier to maintain since i know every single
> line of it.
>
> What is your recommendation? Build it myself? Use Magento? or another option
> that i didn't even consider yet?
>
> Kind regards,
> Mark
Something i made up just now. Would it work if i make the ecommerce
system myself and build OpenCart support in it so that OpenCart
extensions can be installed in my oscommerce as well? Since then i
wouldn't have to bother about payment modules.
Though it does add a very complex translation layer from "my to be
build oscommerce" to the OpenCart system...
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