Posted by Jason Barnett on 05/13/05 23:20

john@johnallsopp.co.uk wrote:
>>>I would like to create a 'community' website and was wondering if
>>>there
>>>was a framework available to get me started?
>
>
> Well now I don't even know what a framework is. I was expecting
> someone to say "Oh, you should use model view controller" or
> something.
>
> All the answers seem to be applications.
>
> Are applications frameworks?
>
> J

I would call MVC a design pattern... but then again I never took a CS
class in college so my knowledge of the lingo might be lacking.

In any case based on the responses others have given to the OP
(including your own responses) there are really multiple questions that
you need to address:

- what content / features do you want?
- what kind of user interface do you want?
- do you want a solution that is fully integrated?
- If so, then also consider the licensing options for each solution.
- If you don't want the full integration then you get to other questions
like:
- what design pattern fits my overall application? (likely MVC)
- what pre-existing code does the best job for each part of my site?
- what amount of flexibility do I want to build into my application?
- what can I do to make this code as easy as possible to understand
in the future, because I or someone else will have to debug it later?


I'm missing a lot of questions out of my list, but it gets you started.
Really it comes down to having a good mental picture of what it is you
want the site to do and how it will work / look / feel. Then you get
all of that down on paper and start finding code / packages / tutorials
to fill in the blanks.

Based on the somewhat vague OP, you have somewhat vague (but somewhat
useful) answers. ;)

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