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Planning Your Site - Community Building Part 2

Author: Paul Kenneth Egell-Johnsen

Publishing date: 06.11.2000 11:03

This is the second part of our series on community building. What is best for your site, pre-packaged software? Custom made software?

Pitfalls in all directions.

Read the first part.

A Foundation for Your Idea


You've somehow gotten funding and you're ready to spend your money, and I'm here to give you more advice. The first thing you need to consider is whether you're idea needs a customized web site or if you can use existing solutions.

This part should have been easy, instead it is the most confounding part, and a part which can bust you.

Generally the following ideas are supported by existing software:

  • news and information
  • classified ads
  • discussion
  • shopping
  • email
  • chat
  • support
  • customer relations
  • intra net
  • group ware

    Many things might be supported by creatively applying existing software, a product catalog is just a categorized news site or a shop where the items can't be bought.

    Some ideas just require some customization of existing software, for example the ability to change themes of your site depending on time of day, month or year.

    Other ideas might need a complete customization, because there are no supporting software out there. These are far and few between, and to be honest I can't think of one at the top of my head.

    You might also want to (and probably should) mix and match existing parts, or use a complete solution with many modules to create a more varied experience at your site. And remember even though you get all the modules now (or later) you shouldn't put everything out on the web immediately.

    Existing Solutions


    Get one which is open, one you can hire someone to customize. You'd be surprised to learn how often developers put in arbitrary limits to their software. Some are intentional ("We'll make someone pay for that development themselves."), some are more practical ("Only 1% of our customers have ever requested that.") and then there are just things left out because no-one thought about it.

    An example of an limitation, you have a department store, you get a shopping system and start off trying to create a virtual representation of your store on-line.

    Unfortunately the software you bought doesn't help you out. It talks about categories or departments. Fine thus far, but consider this. You're selling shoes and clothes (among other things), and you have the following departments:

  • Men
  • Women
  • Children

    Then you'll add different articles of clothing:

  • Shoes
  • Shirts
  • Pants

    The software you've bought will now require you to add the following "departments" to your apparels department, within each existing I might add:

  • Casual
  • Dress
  • Sports

    We're ending up with a hierarchy of stuff which shouldn't be modeled as a hierarchy. A shoe might be for men and be casual. Those are attributes of an object.

    You're still set on shopping around? Unfortunately you don't know what you're looking at, and the pitfalls are many. You might want to hire someone to help you out with your specific needs, but read on first.

    What are you looking for in a solution


    When you're looking for an existing product you need to know what to look for. Here is our short list of things to look for:

  • Installed customer base - If nobody uses it beware.
  • Customizability - You shouldn't have to pay the seller to customize their solution.
  • Ease of use - Demand to try out the solution, both as a user and as an administrator.
  • Price - There should be a good reason why the off-the-shelf solution costs more than a built from scratch system.
  • Hardware requirements - Why is it running on expensive hardware only they can configure and only they sell?

    You might want to know the following facts.

  • You pay half as much for double the performance every 18 months.
  • Many successful web sites run on software which are free (as in gratis, no purchase cost).
  • You don't have to place the hardware in your back yard. Some specialize in giving their customers good hardware, good bandwidth and good service. And at a monthly fee.

    And where are you left when it comes to problems and bugs in the software? Keep in mind that widely used software often have gone through 'evolutions', things have been added, more or less planned. There might be serious problems under the hood, and shrink wrap licenses might rob you from any method of reclaiming your costs.

    I won't pretend to give you all the answers, but I hope you'll have a realistic view of the situation. You don't want to spend a lot of money in the start on idling hardware or idle bandwidth. Instead spend your money on your content creators. Professionals who will create lasting value for your site.

    Customized Web site


    You think that shrink wrap isn't for you? Well, that is good and bad, as is most choices. You'll be faced with some of the same issues as when selecting a shrink wrapped piece of software, a quick list:

  • Are they any good? - Do they have a portfolio of customers, what do they say?
  • Are they expensive? - Shop around. How do you want to pay, per hour or on completion of goals?
  • Which customers do they have? - A company with lots of Fortune 500 customers might not be for you, probably you're to small, or they're to expensive. One without a portfolio is a risky choice.

    You'll also need to avoid getting more or less than you buy. What is the point of a program which can do everything, but which you can't understand? The opposite is easier to grasp, why buy something which can't do the job you need to get done.

    Then how do you ensure that you get exactly what you want? Well, that is the specification phase of your project. A good shop will insist on doing this with you (at a price, of course) before they negotiate a contract for the full project. In a perfect world you'd choose one firm to do the specification phase and another to do the implementation, thus the first firm won't have a vested interest in locking you in on a path you will regret.

    Finally, how do you ensure that there isn't any bugs in the system you get, it isn't as if a lot of people have tested it.

    Before running off and spending your money, take some time out to find the people who are going to create your content, and thus end up using the software. Perhaps they have favorites, experience, demands, wishes, and other viewpoints?


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