New PHP coding website. Want to join in?

[fileserverdirect]

Hey guys,
If you've been around here for a while you probably know me. I have created several ideas for major PHP websites. I have lots of folders on my computer of started projects but never finished mainly because of loss of interest, amount of time needed, or difficulty. They all shared a common idea around a script, such as my recent "ImageTracker". I have decided that all I'm really doing is making scripts for other developers to use in their sites, I would not have to deal with the load of hosting such a huge database and whatnot.

So, I've decided to make a catch-all website for all my scripts. So far, the name is PHP Stockpile (I'm going to register that name later). If you have a better idea, just post it, the domain wasn't bought yet. The focus of the site is very high quality free PHP scripts for webmasters. Each download will have a setup script and whatnot. I am using PHP Fusion as the CMS and I'm setting it up as I type, (well it's uploading).

I am asking any Dynamic Drive members if they would want to contribute to the site, not just in code snippets but in overall moderation of the site and co-admins. ALL OF THE TIME I see people ask common PHP questions here and fourm members promptly reply with a great answer, for example a script could be called "AutoConnect" All a user would do is include this file and All database connections are made. This is just a tiny example and I hope Dynamic Drive adopts this and constantly adds code to it.

EDIT: The CMS did not turn out as well as I planned, check it out here: http://phpstockpile.onionhouseonline.com/downloads.php

Thanks,
Ben
fileserverdirect


Comments, Questions, Reactions:

[djr33]

While I don't think this is a bad idea, it already exists: pear, for example, and also websites like http://www.phpclasses.org/

On the other hand, creating some very general scripts for users here and then adding a PHP section to this site might be very useful. An obvious one is a form mailer script. But I know from ddadmin that this would need some strong motivation to move forward-- so some good, cross-server-compatible scripts would be a nice start.

[traq]

I'd be willing to contribute some scripts I've developed if we got a php section going on DD. Some form mailers and xml-based comment systems, for example.

[james438]

I like the idea of a friends of DD scripts site. I am sure that would be a lot of work to get it successful though.

[djr33]

Also, the main problem with PHP is that it isn't any more standardized than Javascript, but this is just rarely an issue because developers are usually working with only one server. If we want to release scripts publicly, it will take testing across various environments and we'll need to account for PHP 4, 5 and 6, Windows and Linux, safe mode and not, magic quotes, etc.

[fileserverdirect]

I have good feelings about this, however the CMS, PHP Fusion isn't exactly the best CMS for this type. I'm avoiding PHP Nuke for its security problems, however maybe we just colab and make a quick site. I don't know as going as far making a whole php section here, but I would like an affiliation.
To djr's first post: All of these massive script sites contain 1000's of scripts that do the same thing. This website (which I'll probably rename) is supposed to be a webmaster database of easy to use helpful php scripts. I was even thinking of hosting these scripts and webmasters could "include" these scripts. A wizard should be included with every download\ snippet such as a mailer snippet where the user enters the "to" "message" "cc" and attachments in textboxs, then they press "generate" and a code snippet with detailed instructions for installation. Other tools could include an array generator MySQL connection or my new idea "EasyMySQL" where common submitting functions are simplified in to easy functions like insertMYSQL($value, $column) to preset tables and connections for easy use.
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Available names (all .com):
The Php Webmaster
PHP Partner
PHP League
PHP Curve (<= I like that)
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Im using http://suggest.name/ (a great naming website...)

[djr33]

sharedphp . com/org or sharephp . org are also available... a bit more generic, but very clear.

[fileserverdirect]

sharedphp (dot com) I like that name. I will look into purchasing that after I have the site done.

Do you have any ideas on where to start coding. Obviously a CMS now would not work for all this, it's too specific. We'll have to code this from the ground up, however I'm not amazing at planning ahead the whole database structure and everything, so is there some basic CMS service you could recommend that already has tables set up? Or should we just start from a blank slate?

[djr33]

It's not very hard to use a CMS if you just want to display code. But if you want it to run also, I agree.

If you've got enough time to devote, building a custom system wouldn't be that hard, I don't think. It's just a list and some dynamic pages for viewing scripts, right?

I'm pretty busy, and I will probably passively participate, but not too much more than that. Just FYI.

Also, if you type the domain names directly here, domain catchers may grab them before you can, so I put the extra spaces above on purpose.

[traq]

Are you planning on:

1) offering scripts for download
2) allowing users to contribute scripts
3) hosting working demos of the scripts
4) allowing people to try their own code (like a "try-it" editor)

the further down the list, the more complicated, and the more customized your cms will need to be.

As far as cross-system compatibility, I think you should specifically disallow (or discourage) php4 scripts. Too much stuff is depreciated/removed, and there's not much offered that couldn't be done far better in version 5.

Beyond that, as long as you list server/version/library/extension/whatever requirements, it should all be good. You could write a script to check and compensate for magic quotes that could be included in other scripts. Instructions for disabling safe mode/magic quotes could be featured as well.

I'd be interested in contributing stuff, helping out where I could, but I probably couldn't make a larger commitment.