From: tedd > At 1:45 PM -0500 8/25/10, Tim Martens wrote: >>Hi Everyone, >> >>New to the list. Hello! >> >>I'm in the customer discovery phase for a Health IT web application concept >>I have. My programmer is new to web apps, but not to programming and is set >>up with LAM(PHP). We're still debating weather to use a framework or to go >>with Rasmus's "no framework framework" approach. >> >>Language/Framework decisions aside... my main question is about subdomain ( >>customerx.appname.com vs subdirectory (appname.com/customerx/) models for >>instances of individual customers' accounts. >> >>It seems most people are opting for the former -- is this but a trebd? -- >>but I see flickr use the latter. The guys at Particletree (i.e., Wufoo) >>wrote a blog post about it ( >>http://particletree.com/notebook/subdomains-development-sucks/) years ago to >>which they still attest. >> >>They say the subdirectory model is much easier and faster to develop and >>deploy. We are developing locally on our macs and will be using >>Mecurial/Bitbucket for CVS. >> >>I'm really lost on this issue as all my searches turn up stuff on SEO/SEM. >>Is one approach easier that the other? What about security and scalability >>considerations? I would very much appreciate your opinions as to the pros >>and cons of each approach. >> >>As an aside, does anyone have some advice about rapid PHP deployment, i.e., >>pushing new features to production daily in micro iterations vs the typical >>milestone approach? Are there any good tools for this? What about hosts? >> >>Thanks all, >> >>Tim > > Tim: > > My recommendations: > > 1. No framework. Learn one thing, namely what you want to do and not > two (i.e., "what you want to do" and a "framework"). I did not know > that Rasmus said that, but I listen to what he says. > > 2. Use directories. They are much simpler to use and easy to > create/change/delete/scale/make-secure. -- SEO stuff does not apply > here. > > 3. Investigate "Agile" development. > > 4. Host? Roll the dice like the rest of us. Before you can select a hosting provider, define what you want. Are you looking for a cage with power and network connections, a VM that you can load up and manage, or a fully managed server environment? UPS or generator? What about backup and failover? Do you need redundant network connections? There is a wide range of options here that are not easy to evaluate. We have used a variety of different hosts through the years as our needs and requirements changed. Our current one is fully managed, guarantees PCI compliance and is very expensive. But it is still less than the FTE we would have to hire to do it all ourselves. We have more than 100 client sites on that cluster of servers. Depending on your size, it may be worth considering hiring a consultant to walk you through this process the first time. It could save you a lot of mistakes, time and money. Bob McConnell -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php