What would it take to...

[iamhammill]

What would it take to put together a website to a comparable scale of Flickr and eBay (but with less content at first)?


I would imagine a project like this can't be done by a few kids in their basements?


I have no clue where to start...

 

[angelwatt]

A few dedicated servers, good knowledge of SQL-type databases, good knowledge of PHP, people on hand to assist users and answer questions, marketing to build up, etc. It'd probably take a few thousand dollars I'd think, or a long time for a couple people to put together cheaply. Not something to try on a whim or for the light hearted.

 

[MegaMan1311]

Building the site can be done by a few kids in the basement, if they know what they are doing, but with support, advertising, and maintaining the site would a large amount of people.

 

[Knox]

You have to remember that a good proportion of the sites that we now consider to be huge, complex and difficult to write will have started out at a much more modest size and built up from there. The original version of Flickr, for example, was written by a single person (or at least a very small team) from an idea that was stumbled upon accidentally. Facebook is another one - it was originally just a hobby project done by a Harvard student.

Depends on the project, but in general you start with the core elements of the site - what is going to make it useful/unique/popular - and then gradually build on that. At some point you'd probably need some investment in the site but time is probably the most useful investment at the start

 

[iamhammill]

The idea/concept/popularity and such is all in place, it's just time for my to get a larger and more complex system; doing it online.


I can't code more than a myspace profile though. Thanks for all the insight on this. If you guys have any recommendations on people that you know that do this type of work, or if there are some pretty popular firms that usually handle this stuff please send them my way.

Or if someone on here is perhaps up to the challenge? I could give you some more details if so.

Thanks,
Jake