what is needed to program and IMDB.com type website?

[fallofrome213]

hey everyone,

im new to this forum, and cant say that i have much programming knowledge. i was hoping to come to all of you for some answers to questions i have concerning programming a website like imdb.com

there's a particular feature on the site that most people will not know about unless they are actually registered. basically, it involves being able to allow users of the site to modify/add information on fixed fill-in-the-blank type forms. after they have filled the forms out, these forms are sent to admins who can simply approve them and have all the appropriate information automatically uploaded onto the site. imdb has this feature for fans who want to modify/add information to the site.

with this in mind, whats sort of programming skill set is required to create a website like imdb?

also, would it be possible to simply use imdb.com's source code and tailor the site for my purposes? is this legal? is it efficient? or is it better to develop a database from scratch tailored specifically to my needs even if the site is similar in function (but not material) to imdb?

any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

thanks!

[tmatematikas]

Well, you need to be quite comfortable in overall programing. You must know html, css very well and a bit of php and javascript.

Copying the code means stealing it! And of course such things as php hides all the action and shows only the result (but javascript does). That must make sense.

I would suggest making simple site, better having something special and not everything the same. Make it so so for looking, and browsing. Use only html. Then you should plan (make some schemes and so on) dynamic formation of style, content, ... It is long and monotonic process (because of mistakes and logic). And then you make all that with php for example.

In my opinion you should make a simple site with content loaded from text files. It is not necessary to master sql and other stuff. Try using iFrames for beginning and then replace them with div, object, tables.

Good luck in coding!

[Jordan]

You don't have to know PHP specifically, you could learn any server side language such as Ruby, Perl, Python or PHP. But yes, a server-side language, Javascript, HTML and CSS would be what you need to know. HTML and CSS are fairly easy, they are ways to transfer/format data and not actually programming languages.

[fallofrome213]

thank you for the replies!!

i dont actually plan on doing the programming myself, but instead i want to hire a developer.

in looking for a skilled developer, should i look for someone with the same skill set as above?

also, does anyone have any idea how much is a reasonable amount to charge per hour for creating a site with the same scope as imdb (but different subject matter)? one company i found is charging me $35,000 at 125/hour (ciplex.com) whereas another is asking $72/hour (endertechnology.com)

does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be a better route to take?

and was imdb built from the ground up? or are there certain open source database templates out there that can be tailored by a programmer according to fit one's needs?

thank you!

[WingedPanther]

The devil's going to be in the details. If you want something just like IMDB, that would be one thing. Sometimes a "small" tweak will have massive ramifications to the time to develop it, however. Also, some languages might be easier/faster to code in, but imply increased server costs. A Linux/Apache server with PHP will be cheaper than a Windows server with IIS, for example.

As a developer, I wouldn't even quote for "IMDB.com type website" because it's too vague. It would be my job as a developer to determine which technologies would be helpful to accelerate development, not yours. If someone asked me to make a site using jQuery and Drupal, I would be curious if they had a reason for picking those over mootools and wordpress, for example.

[fallofrome213]

thanks for the prompt reply

upon asking around, someone mentioned that it might be easier/more cost beneficial to have a programmer use something like freebase (freebase.com/docs/data/introduction) rather than having someone build something from scratch.

does anyone have any input about taking this route? what would the advantages be? limitations?

i understand that me saying an "imdb.com type website" is excessively vague, but the reason why im using it as an example is because of all the complicated data relationships and features on imdb.com, which are similar to the site i am trying to construct. i would be more detailed, but have not yet figured out all the specifics.

thanks!

[WingedPanther]

To be honest, without knowing what you actually want to do, it's hard to respond. IMDB and Freebase and Wikipedia are three completely different things. None of them are all that complicated, from what I can see. They are well executed, and that is what makes them shine.

One of the things to be aware of is that something with a "lot" of data can be relatively simple from a database perspective. By the same token, relatively "simple" data can be more involved. One of the big problems is that the structure of the data can be simple or involved based on relatively minor seeming differences.

The details are going to determine what needs to happen. Believe it or not, you haven't given any meaningful information. Here's an example of the kinds of details that will be involved:
Given a movie: how many major actors/actresses can be displayed? 1? 3? unlimited?
Given an actor: how many movies can he/she be listed in? 1? 3? unlimited?
Given a movie: can there be more than one director?
How many genres can a movie fit in?

Those questions are actually more important than the type of information you can record about a movie/actor, from a database design perspective.