Think I Should Take This PHP Project?

I'm a relatively new freelancer in the USA, but have good PHP5/MySQL
skills, just not skilled in a lot of PHP packages/frameworks yet
except jQuery and Smarty. So a potential client asks me tonight if I
can take his $500 and build him a knockoff of this site:

http://www.andysautosport.com/

He's not concerned about looks. Just wants a catalog and a shopping
cart connected to a payment gateway, keep it real simple, and give him
an admin interface to work with the catalog.

I was thinking, after I watched a YouTube video on osCommerce, that I
might just take that and customize in under 10 hours.

Thinks it's possible? Are there pros/cons with this product? Any
warnings you have?

Re: Think I Should Take This PHP Project?

On Apr 14, 7:42 pm, Roberto <8...@myway.com> wrote:
> I'm a relatively new freelancer in the USA, but have good PHP5/MySQL
> skills, just not skilled in a lot of PHP packages/frameworks yet
> except jQuery and Smarty. So a potential client asks me tonight if I
> can take his $500 and build him a knockoff of this site:
>
> http://www.andysautosport.com/
>
> He's not concerned about looks. Just wants a catalog and a shopping
> cart connected to a payment gateway, keep it real simple, and give him
> an admin interface to work with the catalog.
>
> I was thinking, after I watched a YouTube video on osCommerce, that I
> might just take that and customize in under 10 hours.
>
> Thinks it's possible? Are there pros/cons with this product? Any
> warnings you have?

Never, never underestimate the amount of work a project will take.

Re: Think I Should Take This PHP Project?

On Apr 14, 9:04 pm, tinman77 wrote:
> Never, never underestimate the amount of work a project will take.

I've decided to think of it like this. First, instead of osCommerce or
Zen Cart, a friend recommended Magento Commerce:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/

When I looked at it, it makes osCommerce and Zen Cart look "old
school". It uses PHP5.2+, the Zend framework, MySQL5, and uses
Scriptaculous and ExtJS. (I wish it used jQuery for the Javascript
library, but oh well.)

Second, I'll take this guy's $500 and use Magento Commerce, even if I
have to pay for tech support at a loss to me, just to get one of these
catalog/carts under my belt.

Third, he wants it in 2-3 days. I'll try my darndest. In a bind,
Magento can speed that up with their affordable tech support, or I can
just pay them $180 to do the installation for me and I customize from
there.

Fourth, this client is the perfect one to try this out on. He has low
demands except cost and time, and time is a best effort. If I can do
it in a week, that will work for him. Plus, he doesn't care how it
looks -- just as long as it's functional, and then he'll customize
from there.

Fifth, I can guarantee you that the next one of these I do, I'll do it
for like $900, minimum.

Re: Think I Should Take This PHP Project?

On 14 Apr, 23:42, Roberto <8...@myway.com> wrote:
> I'm a relatively new freelancer in the USA, but have good PHP5/MySQL
> skills, just not skilled in a lot of PHP packages/frameworks yet
> except jQuery and Smarty. So a potential client asks me tonight if I
> can take his $500 and build him a knockoff of this site:
>
> http://www.andysautosport.com/
>
> He's not concerned about looks. Just wants a catalog and a shopping
> cart connected to a payment gateway, keep it real simple, and give him
> an admin interface to work with the catalog.
>
> I was thinking, after I watched a YouTube video on osCommerce, that I
> might just take that and customize in under 10 hours.
>
> Thinks it's possible? Are there pros/cons with this product? Any
> warnings you have?

I'd go for Joomla and Virtuemart, but I'm biased.

I would still heed tinman's warning.

Re: Think I Should Take This PHP Project?

Roberto wrote:
> I'm a relatively new freelancer in the USA, but have good PHP5/MySQL
> skills, just not skilled in a lot of PHP packages/frameworks yet
> except jQuery and Smarty. So a potential client asks me tonight if I
> can take his $500 and build him a knockoff of this site:
>
> http://www.andysautosport.com/
>
> He's not concerned about looks. Just wants a catalog and a shopping
> cart connected to a payment gateway, keep it real simple, and give him
> an admin interface to work with the catalog.
>
> I was thinking, after I watched a YouTube video on osCommerce, that I
> might just take that and customize in under 10 hours.
>
> Thinks it's possible? Are there pros/cons with this product? Any
> warnings you have?
>

Tinman's correct. It's going to take you a lot more than 10 hours.

Heed the warnings of those more experienced.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================