Neverside

Eveything depends on what your limits are. If you plan on using free hosts for a while to get familiar, then php is the way to go. If you plan on running own server -> php. Anything where you want to save money, go php. The only time asp would be handy is when the client requires it, or when your budget allows it and you get advantages out of it.

Another reason not to run asp is because it comes with windows servers. This means you're bound to a product that is harder to keep secure by nature, because unix systems are just less advanced and therefore easier to protect.

Another opinion of mine is I try to stay away from microsoft. Its products are fine for what they are, but not really the thing I like to rely on. There's too much money involved in it, and it's too advanced to be able to fix stuff for yourself, and the chance of anything happening is already bigger in itself due to the commercial character of alot of its products...

If you haven't mastered those yet, I suggest that you do. If you know CSS, I would consider making a tableless website, as that is usually the hardest thing to make for a lot of people. Once you have that stuff done fairly easy, I would suggest moving on to PHP and SQL database stuff. PHP is such an expansive language to learn, that I don't think anyone has truly mastered it completely.

Once you get the hang of most of the useful php functions, if that is as far as you would like to go with it, then your next move really depends on what you'd like to do. If you want to do more of the graphical things, I'd learn (if you don't already know) Flash and Maya or 3D studio max. If you'd like to apply your skills on the more technical side of it, then ASP (or if you are really serious about it, Oracle) is another useful language to learn.

There are also a lot of languages being made as we speak, some of which come from Macromedia. But do not forget - new standards are coming out quicker and quicker these days, so keep up with everything.

-Mark

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Holy ****, its Dean fucking Venture!

Army:
I was saying that I didn't know any who mastered both, not that there weren't any in the world. Of course there are some. If we're on the subject though, the site you showed is far from proof that he has mastered both. One thing is for sure: he hasn't mastered the art of making a website. Knowing flashy effects and even programming doesn't guarantee knowing how to build a website. His site is extremely hard to navigate, displays as one would NOT expect it, etc. I wish I could say I was impressed by his server-side scripting, but none of the links work on the site except a few (like guestbook) and those require so little knowledge of server-side that it could be learned in less than a week (about 15 minutes if you're familiar with the basics of PHP).

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Learn HTML

Quote:

Originally posted by bEeZm
PHP is actually a very strong language. I do like it, but the thing that gives it a bad name are people like in this thread sadly enough :confused:

php is good. but it has its downsides. where asp.net has its ups.

Quote:

Originally posted by Gil
Another reason not to run asp is because it comes with windows servers. This means you're bound to a product that is harder to keep secure by nature, because unix systems are just less advanced and therefore easier to protect.

asp.net is pretty secure. and people don;t target asp. they only target windows. and most good hosts would have a proxy server running as well as a firewall so i highly doubt they would get attacked often.

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yeah, I suppose you're right, but then there's still the money issue, which is most of the time the greatest issue for the designer, as your clients really want it cheap. I heard of people making websites for as low as $600, custom-made. I mean, you want at least a week for that, so ammounts like that are peanuts...

And you're not going to be able to ask more, because it was coded in asp. You can, but you will get less clients in...

i just got offered $5000 for a stripper booking/management system site.

the guy wants me to do $30 an hour doing asp.net when ive finished course.

the cost issue is the fact that with asp you can have a lot more control over yoursite. a content management system is worth a lot cos it allows the client to update their own site in such a way they need to know nothing about coding. that in return puts people out of busness because theres no "hey look we want to add some stuff to our site" "hey we need to update"

i love asp tho. the whole resquest.form() is awesome.

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My point is that I've seemed to notice that the ammount of web coders getting $2000+ projects is minimal. Anyone else, including hobbyists just choose php, because it's free, simple as that. As long as php stays free asp won't get control of the market. The real threat would be ruby. It's as versatile as java, it's free like php, it has the same qualities as asp, maybe not now, but soon. If I were Bill gates I'd buy out ruby now it's perhaps still possible...

hmm... this thread has gone quite off topic

Phillip, could you please list some arguments about why PHP blows? Even though I prefer Ruby, PHP would be my next choice.

Quote:

Originally posted by win.
hmm... this thread has gone quite off topic

Not in my opinion; someone suggested to learn PHP, and someone opposed it and we are currently in the argument as to why

Last edited by Rad, November 16th, 2004 01:17 PM (Edited 1 times)

i just don;t like it. even tho im using it to do this site at the moment i just don;t like it. with asp.net you can have an include and tell it where to go. but with php you have to include it where you want it.

i also dont know if php has a function like asp's "request.form" ? which i think is very handy.

even so i would use coldfusion over php but only because i know coldfusion better than i do php, the pitfall is finding hosting for coldfusion :/

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