Open Source

Community website scripts are hot. More and more businesses and website owners are acknowledging that their sites need to be interactive in order to please the crowd. New websites which create hype these days always have multiple functions that permit visitors to interact with one another, or with the website owner. The demand for socially interactive websites and the know-how to make it all happen has never been higher. The offer of social network, knowledge sharing, media sharing, or micro-blogging scripts has never been as great as today.

This leaves the website owner interested in this technology with quite a tough decision to take: what is the best community website solution?

On the one hand, there is the possibility of purchasing a complete software solution read made. These community building software packages are more often than not open source, so you’ll be able to change them afterwards as you see fit. On the other hand, you could hire the service of a developer (or try to do it yourself) to develop the features you require in CMS software like Joomla or Drupal, which are free and open source. Both possibilities come with a price.

Let’s take a detailed look:

1st Possibility: hiring the service of a programmer to design the website for you, based on your requirements.

In terms of freedom in developing what you require just as you need it, this is definitely the most flexible option

You won’t be stuck on limitations of pre-fabricated scripts and you can map out all your requirements yourself.

Things are however not as easy as they sound. There are a few things to address when picking this solution. First of all, you’ll need to pick the right guy. For this type of development, you need to be certain that the developer can meet up to expectations. A good way to check this out is by looking up their references and client testimonials. The good ones will probably not be very cheap as they have a tendency to charge by the hour. Having an experienced developer will imply that you’ll have a less tough time in explaining your requirements. The most tedious part of the project will be communicating your requirements to have the end-result you want. If you do not have any know-how of software development, this can be tough. You’ll need to sit down and clearly map out your requirements, which will demand a lot of time. The least experienced your developer is, the tougher it tends to be for them to understand your needs. There will always be a risk of confusion, which could result in your site not delivering up to expectations. Your developer will definitely need to be flexible enough to provide you with regular status updates, screenshots, and demo versions so you can see what they are developing and put them back on track if necessary.

The least expensive developers these days are located in countries such as India. If you are going to sign upt with them, you’ll need to sacrifice some time and effort in ensuring that the requirements are clearly understood. It is definitely worth acquiring some know-how on software design project management to understand their ways of working and what their expectations are from you. Even if selecting a cheap developer, it goes without saying that this is the most expensive option.

2nd Possibility: purchase an existing community website script which meets your requirements

For every type of popular community website, there are php scripts which are ready made. These scripts can be purchased online and often require little work. Websites like youtube, facebook, twitter, wikipedia – everything can be purchased. You’ll need to make sure the script has what you require. If it is a large script, it should come with a flexible back-end that allows you to remove and add modules of the package in a simple manner.

For this choice also, there are a couple of points to bear in mind. First of all, the offer is very big. Never go for the least expensive solution and always try to find user reviews of the script you are purchasing. Make sure you check out the demo version before you buy the script, and go for the offers that come with a trial period if possible, or a money back guaranty. If they don’t have a demo version, you’ll need to request one. Be sure to do this.

Also, think twice about getting that it is a closed source community website script. This will not allow you to make modifications to the code if needed, or not allow someone else to easily make the modification for you. An open source script allows you to do this yourself, as you have full access to the code. Making such modifications yourself can appear daunting, but with a bit of practice it becomes relatively simple. The type of modifications you’ll be doing will be minor, often related to the layout and design. Having the provider help you out, or getting a freelancer to do this for you will not be very costly. The providers of the script are usually more than happy to assist.

Purchasing a community website building package like this is definitely the least expensive option. The average price will be around $250.

Looking for social networking software to get you started? Below software review site will help you on your way:

http://www.TopCommunitySoftware.com