help with the web project

[David Mbura]

hello guys!
I am a student and new to IT development industry, i dont have any work experience.I want to create a website but i am not sure of what technologies to use.Personally i would prefer frameworks like STRUTS 2,SPRING,HIBERNATE,ORACLE database and WEBLOGIC or TOMCAT web application server.But i know all these depends on a website requirements (website functionalities).
Functionalities are including :

1.Users to be able to sign up and communicate (sending each other messages).So its like networking site shape( inbox,sent,reply,forward,send)
2.Signed up users(members) to be able to post their articles or blogging on the site.
3.Members to be able to upload videos,audio and documents on the site.These videos will be displayed on the other page with its rating shown by number of stars, just like YOUTUBE.
4.Members to be able to buy a video,click buy a video forwards you to billing info page then if payment succeeds you will be directed to another page with the player, and video start playing.Simultaneosly a copy of the video
will be sent to your profile info page,that way you could watch the video at any time( but you cant download the video file to your computer,you can only view on the site).
5.Users will be able to search these videos by category,by title,by subject and so on.
6.Users will be able to request videos,this is going to be a form (e.g field for video title,text area for video description,submit button ).After clicking submit button, the request will be displayed on another page.
7.Members to able to search other members according to their registration info entered when signing up. for example user(nick) entered number of dogs he has when registering and his address when signing up,so other members should be able to should be able to search by number of dogs,and people within a certain miles radius,this is myspace feature like for those who have used it.
8.User should be able to search other members by typing on the field,by starting typing s ,all the names starting with s should be displayed,this should work like google suggest or facebook.I know could do this with struts2 with
ajax but i don't know other supporting technology to accomplish that.(auto complete)
9.Users should be able to contact me via form
10.Forum (This one i want to be just like JAVARANCH forums)

So can anybody suggest what kind of java/J2EE technologies would suite those requirements?I am also familliar with JSP,webservices,xml,jms,ejb. I prefer frameworks because, i think its much easier,but dont hesitate to mention any additonal technology you think i might need to accomplish that.Also ,is there any advantage of creating(coding) your own forum from scratch?Is it alot of work?Or is it better to install premade forums and edit them to your own specifics?Again this idea i have for this website has really good potential to grow in the future,i am expect millions of videos to be uploaded,expand to about 20 countries(including non english speaking).So i want it to look more proffesional/decent as possible.Some times i think maybe i should get a loan and have proffessional architects and developers work on this.I really don't want to screw this up,but even if i do it by myself i am going to to need alot of help from well experienced architect atleast.The above mentioned functionalities are not the only requirements there are others that i didnt mention,but i just want to start small first.But i have already written down the plan and everything on papers.I have very strong website ideas but i dont know how to proceed because i am new in the IT industry.ARCHITECTS,EXPERIENCED DEVELOPERS ,SOMEBODY HELP ?Thank you for reading such a long message.Thank you all!

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I'ved edited your subject from "HELP WITH THE WEB PROJECT (ARCHITECTS ,EXPERIENCED DEVELOPERS PLEASE READ!!)". All caps is considered shouting online and surely you don't want to shout at people who might help you.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

David,
What you describe is a ton of work. Maybe you want to start with something smaller? Like one of those features?

Creating a forum is a lot of work. When it was time to upgrade here, we started with an open source one here and customized it. See the journal describing the process.

Using Struts 2/Spring/Hibernate is fine for what you want to do.

As far as how to proceed, the first decision is build vs buy. Or open source and extend. The next thing is design - what do you want it to look like? What do you need to develop? Can you do it in phases?

[David Mbura]

Wow!Thanks jeanne
Seems like its alot of work,well starting with the first decision "build or buy"

a. Build
Now it feels like If i decide to build myself it might take even a year to finish,isnt it?Since i am a begginer and i have never been involved in any kind of project,i will need to be side by side with an architect.You think
there is a way to find volunteering architect?think i might want to meet him/her in person to explain more the project (because i have about 40 sample pages on paper)?

b.Buy
First of all jeanne what did you mean buy?Buy already made website or pay developers to do it?If i decide to have other developers do it (and probably me helping on the project),that means i need to find investors because i dont have money.So do investors buy the idea off the paper?In other words do the they invest on your business plan?I know most investors invest in a website which is already running.

c.Open source
I am not really familiar with open source. I dont know how open source works especially when developers volunteer because i expect to generate income off this in the future,wont it create drama later on?.I know freelancer,but if delegate to somebody else i need to be side by side with him.I need to decide between a,b and c depending on your analysis in each.Thank you in advance.

[Henry Wong]

David Mbura wrote:
Seems like its alot of work,well starting with the first decision "build or buy"

The concept of build vs buy, is exactly that -- should you build the component or should you buy it? And interestingly, it is not as simple as it sounds.

For example, you need a messaging layer. How hard can that be? It's very easy to write a simple library that opens a socket, connects it from point A to point B, and send a message over. Heck, a week to write it and test it, and done. Simple, right?

However, what happens when you start adding features? examples are... Publish / Subscribe semantics, Queuing semantics, Persistence features, HA/DR features, etc.? What about other transports like shared memory for high speed messaging? What about new network adapters? New transports like RDMA? etc. Pretty soon, you wind up with a hairball, which is taking more and more of you time to maintain. And since you are not a messaging expert, you can't keep up with the latest and greatest technology either.

In this example, the answer is simple, you buy it.... but it may take years before you come to this realization. The pain of building it isn't that obvious until you are buried in it. Build vs buy is hardly a simple decision, and in many cases, its a decision that may have to be revisited during the lifetime of a project.


Open-source is just another option to buying. There are many vendors that sell messaging systems, and sell support to help you too. But there are also products that are simply downloaded, with optional support that you can buy. If you don't need support, the product is essentially free. You are just restricted with what you can do -- for example, you can't resell the open source product (bundle with yours), you have to require your users to download and install the open source product prior to using yours. etc. etc.

Henry

[Baichuan Huang]

When I was in college,I also want to create a forum.
i know its a big work,so i make a plan,it about Some on the following
1.Choose what kind of technology,maybe struts,hibernate,spring is good.but i think java fundation is the most import thing for study.
so,we choose jsp,servlet,tomcat to do it at last.
2.Choose the right partner for each other
3.make a development plan



good luck.

[arulk pillai]

Take a typical usecase and build one vertical slice from end to end. You can also call this a proof of concept. The first slice is always the hardeset. Get this vertical slice through design (UML), build, and deploy. Also, you need to work on the logical and physical data model. Come up with an ER diagram (Entity Relationship) diagram. This is very important.

You are doing this to learn, so buy or build decision does not matter here. If you are passionate about building a forum then go ahead. The technologies you have mentioned are fine. Keep it simple. If you want to use EJBs, then go for Weblogic or JBoss (free), otherwise Tomcat (free) is fine. Spring, Struts 2 and Hibernate are free as well. You could either use an Oracle databse or MySQL (free) database.


Good luck.

[David Mbura]

Oh wow!
Now I get the feeling that i shouldnt start building it by myself, you guys already mentioned things that i was not aware of.Because i dont want to be building this thing for years.Here is what i think now,how about i consult an architect show him the whole plan/design and have him break it down every single technology and resources i will ever need to use,and time frame estimation,then start looking for investors ,what do you guys think?The good thing is probably i might not need much funds for workforce since personally i can participate in the project.

[Henry Wong]

David Mbura wrote:then start looking for investors ,what do you guys think?

Having been to many group meetings of start-ups, I am still amazed at what VCs are willing to put money into. Having said that, I can say that the ideas are generally very simple -- which this proposal is not. It seems like a combination facebook, and the itunes store.

If you are going to impress a VC, I think you need to be able to explain what it is in 10 seconds, wow them in that 10 seconds, and explain why it is different from every other startup looking for investors.

Henry

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

David,
Yes. A big project is a lot of work.

I think asking an architect to volunteer to work with you on this is overly optimistic. You might find someone who wants to be an architect and wants to use the experience. Don't know.

When I said buy, I meant buy a product that already exists. Don't know if there is a commercial forum.

For open source, I meant a project that already exists not have developers build you a website for free. For example, JForum is already existing forum software.

[David Mbura]

Thank you all for your contributions!
I know it kind of sounds weird about buying video and people networking in one site,but there is a relationship of one and the other one,but unfortunately i cant disclose much at the moment.
I have officially made my mind to go after investors now.Well within 10 seconds ,i can mention atleast three things why this idea is unique so it depends with that particular investor how hard and fast he can understand my idea.But frankly if i spend 15 minutes explaining it , I am sure he will fall in love with it.How many chances do you get?So they only give you 10 seconds only thats it?
Thank you again.

[Henry Wong]

David Mbura wrote:
I have officially made my mind to go after investors now.Well within 10 seconds ,i can mention atleast three things why this idea is unique so it depends with that particular investor how hard and fast he can understand my idea.But frankly if i spend 15 minutes explaining it , I am sure he will fall in love with it.How many chances do you get?So they only give you 10 seconds only thats it?

It's no black magic. You have to write a business proposal. And if it is good, you probably have to write a very detailed business proposal. And if that is good, then you probably get a meeting.... which can, if you are lucky, get the process started.

And yes, in most cases, I am willing to bet, the VC spends only 10 seconds looking at the first page -- and simply trashing the proposal.

Henry

[David Mbura]

Thank you a lot henry!