What Engine Runs Your Website?

In all my article writing for my websites, I studiously try and avoid being overly technical. After all, you want a website that works for your business don't you? You don't really care what has gone on behind the scenes just as long as it looks good, works slickly and doesn't cost too much.

However, I hope you will permit me to indulge myself and talk about some of the technical sides of the work I do. The point being, my work matters to me and even though such technical information is not all that interesting, I hope it shows the commitment I have to providing my customers with robust future-proof websites that work.

The Language Choices - .NET or PHP

There are two main choices for web designers in creating dynamic websites (there are others but these are the main two). Firstly, .NET is not a language as such but more a framework around which you can build all kinds applications which includes websites. It is a Microsoft technology and runs on Windows machines and often is created using VB Script.

Those web designers who choose this will swear by it as it is a most modern framework. It is object oriented and robust. I have never created a website using .NET but I do support one or two websites that use it. In my opinion, it is unwieldy. Whenever you come across a problem, the solution always seems to be horrendously complicated, much like a lot of the software created by Microsoft.

I can see the attraction though. The strict environment in which it runs is frustrating but it does create a very stable environment in which to run your website. Therefore for very large companies, it makes sense to create your website using this technology, especially if it is to interface with other .NET applications that run your back office systems.

Being robust and unwieldy means that it is expensive to create applications using this technology. Therefore, it must be worthwhile for your business to make this extra investment. For most of my customers this is not the case which is why I choose PHP.

PHP is a free, open source technology and is the most popular technology with which to create dynamic websites. It is the language of choice for me. The framework is looser than .NET and although the latest version allows you to write in an object oriented style, it does allow old fashioned linear ways of programming for those who do not wish to convert.

This looser framework means that the environment can be less robust than .NET but it does not have to be so. I program exclusively using the object oriented style. Therefore my customers benefit from having a website that is extremely robust.

PHP also runs on Linux which is far less resource intensive than Windows. This makes for a much faster website running on a more reliable server resulting in much greater website uptime.

This is a language in which I have become very experienced and use it not only to create all my websites, but I also create back-office systems for customers and even created my own small business accounts package using it.

So please think of Web Design Nottingham when looking for business applications that just work.