Posted by Michael Vilain on 05/06/06 20:14

In article <1146852214.763351.223890@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"NC" <nc@iname.com> wrote:

> Michael Vilain wrote:
> >
> > The non-profit's board wants to take the web site "to the next level".
> > So I wrote up a requirements document that summarizes the functions
> > of the site, current requests for enhancements, and day-to-day
> > care-and-feeding.
>
> Perhaps you could post those requirements (or a summary thereof) online
> and share a link with the newsgroup? It's difficult to recommend
> anything without knowing what exactly is needed... Let's start with
> the obvious: do you expect your future site to run on a shared hosting
> server, virtual dedicated server, or physical dedicated server?

All three options need to be presented, with a cost for each. At some
point, the Board may want to go from one level of service to the next
one. They need to know the incremental cost of each step. The current
site is on a shared Linux host for which they pay $25/month. They get
10GB/month network bandwidth, 100MB local storage, MySQL database, php,
perl, Apache web services, and can use the shared web host's SSL
certificate rather than buying their own ($299 setup) and paying yearly
($150/year). The ISP really doesn't like email lists as they can
generate SPAM complaints. They require all email lists be double
opt-in. I've had to explain that we can't just email all our 800
members without their expressed permission first because of this.

Basically, the non-profit's Board wants to spread the exposure they have
where currently their web site is managed by a single person who works
out of his home. They want someone they can call 7x24 to get changes
and modifications done on the site in a timely manner. They want the
site to look really professional, yet be able to make changes to it
easily from their Windows systems in the non-profit's main office or
from the developer's system (PC or Mac).

>
> > I'm looking for a web design and hosting company that uses the
> > open-source tools--templates, php, MySQL, apache, e-commerce
> > (SSL, shopping cart), listserver, etc.--for these people.
>
> I think you need to look for two, maybe even three, companies. Hosting
> is a commodity and can be dealt with as such (translation: don't bother
> looking for it until you found everything else) . You may be able to
> find a company that does both design and integration / implementation /
> custom programming, but you may have to separate these tasks (get a
> design worked out first, then ask the implementors to work it into your
> applications). Also, you can have a design developed on the side and
> wrap some open-source applications (osCommerce comes to mind first)
> into it by yourself...
>
> Cheers,
> NC

Exactly. The three I've gotten from the Board so far have all been ASP
shops. One said "We do maintain a companies PHP application, but we
primarily work with ASP" which translates to me "they have a person on
staff with a Linux/php background they hired and gave this application
him to support".

One ASP shop responded to the RFP I wrote up. They've addressed most of
the requirements except a biggy--integrating the database with
Quickbooks. This is key to running the non-profit's business. I can
write all sorts of code in php to extract or store whatever in MySQL,
but couldn't do this with ASP. Nor do I really want.

Anyway, thanks for any suggestions.

--
DeeDee, don't press that button! DeeDee! NO! Dee...

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