Custom vs Off the Shelf Scripts
Tue, 21 November, 2006 – 12:03 am
I'm currently updating a site that is going to offer digital downloads with payments made via PayPal. I've thought out how to lay out the pages to get the maximum exposure both for visitors and in the search engines, and to also give a professional look to hopefully improve existing sales. Now to me this is all straightforward enough to set up in PHP however spending all day writing PHP code can sometimes put you off spending your evenings writing it out too! I know how to use a few different pieces of off the shelf scripts that could do the job I needed but they're much more bloated and offer a lot more than what I really need.nnBesides using WordPress (as I think it's ace!) I much prefer to write all of my own code however I keep wondering if I'm shooting myself in the foot by being so stubborn over this with my own sites. In theory I could have had the new shopping cart up and running within a few hours using a prewritten script however I keep thinking that if I use a prewritten script then if/when I want to modify it I'm going to have a lot more work on my hands to modify the existing script that I would do if I were to modify a custom script that I'd originally written.nnI'm not sure if this is necessarily being stubborn, taking pride in your work or just procrastination! 
I don't have the money to pay someone else to do a custom script for me and I also think in the back of my mind if I'm capable of doing the work should I be paying someone else? Of course if I had the funds there then as a business you do pay others to do work which you're capable of doing, but at present in the AIS business our income isn't covering our own time let alone available to pay someone else.nnIt's a dilemma that's giving me food for thought. Do I use a less efficient, more bloated and security unknown script because it's easier? Or do I take a day from everyone else's work and write it all myself and get my own arse into gear.
8 Responses to “Custom vs Off the Shelf Scripts”
I find writing my own scripts to be good. Even though it's a larger time investment up front, I find most of the scripts I write have lives in many projects afterwards, some exact duplicates of the original script. A huge benefit.nnIt's almost like a snowball effect, the more I DO write my own stuff, the quicker I can do new projects, as my code base grows and I have more stuff I can reuse.nnAs for security, I'm not sure I write more secure code than anybody else, however with homegrown code you don't have a kickme sign on your site like popularly installed software (e.g. the rewards in hacking a popular software package are scores greater than code found on a single site, and the number of hacked sites, security upgrades/patches proves it).nnYou are also more aware of every call to your db so you can secure things appropriately.nnI've been in the situation as well where I try to modify somebody else's code/script and it ends up taking me so long I could have done it from scratch quicker
Although some were as easy as just copy and paste….nnI enjoy coding so I go that route, it's a personal preference for me.
By 45n5 on Nov 21, 2006
I know the script I'd write for the digital downloads will be used elsewhere too, one of which is a client's site who wants to sell his photos. I think up until recently time has been a major factor however this morning I actually work up feeling pretty relaxed and unstressed for once as I've finally got my business work under control more.nnI know the investment of time is much more worth it, and a custom script is the route I'll always pick whenever possible, I'm just wondering though that if I'd used an off the shelf script back in the summer whether we'd have made a lot more sales (of course who's to say until it's done whether sales will be increased at all?!).
By Sarah on Nov 21, 2006
I'm a bit similar. I'm half way through building a site by hand (i.e. good old-fashioned hard-coded HTML), even though there are a couple of scripts which could have done the job just as well.nnI know that's not quite the same, as you're building a script because you think it will be more efficient or better at doing what you want. I'm just coding the site myself because I want it to look exactly how I imagine.nnIt might not be the best idea as I haven't worked on the site for ages, it's too much effort! :)nnIncidentally - would you consider selling your scripts? This might be another good AIS opportunity?
By Tom on Nov 21, 2006
I've thought about selling my scripts but then I doubt my own ability and start to wonder if I should unleash my scripts on the world!nnI also prefer to do my own scripts so that it looks exactly how I want it visually as you said. Often off the shelf scripts are limited to bad markup such as tables and as Mark said, it can take longer updating someone else's script as it can writing your own, especially if I want to extend the site further in the future which the main site in question could have the potential for.nnAt least once it's done it'll be reusable as Mark rightly said.
By Sarah on Nov 21, 2006
"I’m just wondering though that if I’d used an off the shelf script back in the summer whether we’d have made a lot more sales"nnGood point, I don't think like that, however I probably should sometimes
By 45n5 on Nov 21, 2006
I try not to re-invent the wheel. If I can pick up a script at a reasonable price which does the job I need it to do, then that's a time saver for me.nnIf I can't find something at a reasonable price, then I either write it myself or pay to get it coded (which is sometimes cheaper than just buying the already made script).
By Burty on Nov 23, 2006
I guess the hardest part is finding a script that does the job (and not too much else). I know for example osCommerce could be used to deal with the sale and downloads of digital products, but it's very over the top for a simple site, and it'd take longer to just get rid of the tables in it!nnI think the idea of writing the script, reusing it other sites and possibly selling it is a good idea, the hardest part is making it as least customised as possible so that it's more portable for other sites.
By Sarah on Nov 23, 2006
I think it would be well worth the time taken, im sure you could reuse it and even if you didn't prepare it for a proper "retail" realease im sure you'd be able to sell it to a number of folk you can trust to understand that it's not fully "packaged"nnpersoanlly speaking i'd rather have a good working script that requires a bit of hard work on my side rather than a published script known to a world of hackers
By Martin Paling on Nov 27, 2006