Okay, I am making a website that will allow people to register, create
a username and password, and manage their own personal accounts.  The
user's will need to be able to post images and information and this
information will need to be viewed by other members. I have my layout
and I can manage to do all of the web design.  What I cannot do is the
scripting.  I need to know if there is an easier way to do this
without hiring someone or learning the language.

The user's personal page will allow them to post an image and
description of an item that they wish to sell.  I guess you can say my
site will be similar to eBay except the fact that there will be no
bidding involved.  My users are simply selling their items, listing
them under appropriate categories so someone else can easily search the
categories for something they wish to purchase.  When the person finds
something they wish to purchase, they can easily make a transaction.

I will also need to provide the users with security because they will be
using personal information.

I need to know a cheap and easy way to get this done.  Maybe there is
software out there?  If not, I want to know who I can talk to that
knows how to do this, and what is the cheapest, most reliable way.

Thanks,
Daniel

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Clarification of Question by ironiq-ga on 19 May 2006 13:14 PDT

Also, I know how to create forms, but what I don't know is what it
does when the user presses "submit".  I need to have a confirmation
email sent automatically after a user fills out the registration form,
and when they confirm, they need to be able to automaticcal work on
their page.

Hi,

Wow...is that all ... :-)

What you are asking for is a full blown classifieds program, which
yes, takes a great deal create. I'm afraid that what you know of HTML
and design is not going to help very much. You will need an extensive
knowledge of PHP (or Perl) and understand how to create and maintain a
database like MySQL.
There are of course several pre-made packages out there which would
serve your needs. Some are better than others, and the prices can
range from $200 - $1400. To have a program made for you from scratch
would probably start at $5k and go up from there with the tweaks and
changes that inevitably come with such projects.

A place to find someone to help you with this would be Guru.com
http://www.guru.com 
or Rent-a-Coder
http://www.rentacoder.com

From the myriad of hacked and dashed projects out there for classified
ad programs, these two appear to be fairly good, and have some good
reviews.

68 Classified
http://www.68classifieds.com/

PHP Classifieds
http://www.deltascripts.com/phpclassifieds/

You are probably going to need someones help to get these installed
for you. PHP Classifieds allows you to download the complete system
and install it, to make sure it is what you are after. The price for
commercial use is $179, which is very reasonable considering the
quality of the work.

68 Classifieds has a live demo of on their website so that you can
take an in-depth tour before you buy.

The way the programs look is driven by Templates, so you can change or
alter the way the programs are designed, but with templates these
design changes are going to be a bit different than what you are use
too. The 68 Classifieds uses a template engine called Smarty
(http://smarty.php.net) which is a very good template system, and
allows for much greater control over the look and feel of the program.
While this is something I would look for in the program, and a very
valuable find, your experience is going to need some upgrading to take
advantage of the Smarty Template, or you are going to need someone
that can help you.

PHP Classifieds as a system that is a bit more user friendly, and
easier to figure out, though perhaps not quite as powerful (nothing
says you need the extra power so this may be a better answer for you).
http://www.deltascripts.com/phpclassifieds/manual/?pid=12&subofmain=36&m_id=

Doing a bit of further checking, PHP Classifieds currently has a
Security Advisory out, which doesn't appear to be addressed yet;
http://www.phpadvisory.com/advisories/view.phtml?ID=37

Which brings up something else when thinking about creating/owning
programs of this type; security is always a problem, and you will want
to keep up with any advisories that come out regarding the package you
choose. The problems will probably be fixed in short order, and having
these problems is not necessarily a sign of poor or inexperienced
coding.

The fixes for the security and bug problems will come out
(traditionally) as code snipits which will require the editing of the
existing files, or the re-installing of the program. Sooner or later
you are going to need to know something about the code and the
program.

Internet programming can look simple on the skin, take for example
Google Answers. This system looks very simple, a few forms, a simple
account system, a bit of security and a rather simple looking payment
area. People ask a question, Researchers answer the question, the
question is marked "Answered" and then it is billed ... very simple ..
:-) I know for a fact that it took several years to get all the code
done, and some very clever minds to put it together, and there was
nothing "cheap" about it.

The packages I've listed here for you are good ones. It would probably
be wise to download the PHP Classifieds project, and even if you can't
install it yourself, to go through the files and code to see what such
a program requires to be created.

If you need clarification on any of this, please let me know using the
clarification function.

thanks, 

webadept-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by ironiq-ga on 20 May 2006 10:52 PDT

I have looked into 68 Classifieds and PHP Classifieds, I went through
the demos, and they seem very good. However, will my website be
restricted to looking like those do there, and will I have to use the
templates provided?  I don't quite understand Smarty either.  So
pretty much what I am asking is, if I want my website to look exactly
how I want it, am I going to have to learn PHP or hire someone?  I
will learn the language if it is necessary to get my website looking
how I want it to.

The answer was what I was looking for if not more and the response came really fast.

Are craigslist and pricetag.com examples of what you want to do?

I was supprised to see any response so soon and in such depth...Thank
you very much, webadept.  That is pretty much all I wanted to know.

I just visited pricetag.com and yes that is close to what I want to
do.  I have a different view on the way of doing what they do, but the
whole "online marketplace" is what im aiming toward.

http://classifieds.phpoutsourcing.com/

From the site:

"Why just Noah's Classifieds?" - you surely ask. If Noah' had had to
choose only one from the 'species' of classifieds software, he would
have chosen our program to survive all the others. Though this doesn't
sound serious, it is true anyway, that Noah's Classifieds is an
extremely powerful possibility whatever you want to advertise with it.
It can be the 'Origin' and the 'End'! The origin, because it contains
most of features a site owner would ever need from such a product. The
end, because we can build in every site specific additional features
the basic program may not contains. These modifications are done by
our programers to suit the customization needs of our clients.

try looking at drupal.org and xoops.org and see if they have any
modules that could help you.  I think xoops had a classifieds module.

If you would like to avoid the costs of custom programming, their are
a wide variety of pre-made solutions.

http://www.OpenCrypt.com/ - currently the highest rated on the various
resource listing sites...

- Neil