I am faily new to designing web pages. I just puchased Dreamweaver MX 4 /Pro with the intent on designing and launching my own e-commerce site. I have done extensive research on the internet as to all that is needed..(i.e. ssl cert. , shopping carts, payment method, hosting..etc) . This would be my very first project in designing a full web site. I consider myself a fast learner and don't mind learning the in's and out's of all the programming.

Not sure how big of an ultimate challenge this is going to eventually be in the long run and how long this will take to complete as I have nothing to compare it to.

To all the subject matter experts out there who have done this before.... is this a doable project for a beginner?

Also, what are the pros and cons of developing your own e-commerce site vs. going with a ready made out of the box e-commerce site, such as "Storefront?"

THX

Christina

i'm by no means an expert, but a total commerce solution for your first project sounds a bit too much to be honest.

you might be super smart for all i know, but realistically if you don't know the code, and more importantly what the code does and doesnt do, your going to give yourself a big headache.

I've been developing websites for nearly 4 yrs now, got into ASP about 18 months ago, and still only consider myself as a medium-skill if that. brutal but honest <img src=../images/dmxzone/forum/icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

the biggest challenge you will come across is not he building or coding, or even implementing the store, it will be making your project "secure" with no-holes. This also answers your question of whether to use an out-of the box store or build your own.

that's my 2 pence woth anyway, best of luck.

Regards,
Dave

[DWMX 2004] | [FlashMX 2004 Pro]|[Studio MX 2004]|[SQL]|[Access2000/2002]|[ASP/VBScript]|[XP-Pro]

Hi

I'd have to agree with what Dave said.

There is no doubt that a beginner can develop a website, everybody starts somewhere but for e-commerce there are a lot of security issues that might be a bit much for a beginner.

Dave

ASP|VBScript|IIS5.1|Access|WinXPPro & WinXPHome