Myspace-like clone here!

[mygorillanet]

Alot of people are having trouble finding a really good social networking script at an affordable price. Would it not be good if you could write one yourself ?

In the next few weeks, I shall show how simple it is to write such a script. Ill provide you with a detailed tutorial of how to start from scratch and end up with a multi-functional website.

I can only do this however, if anybody shows an interest in the project I am hoping to undertake.

So if you are interested, do not hesitate, do reply with an 'aye' and maybe you can put forward your requests for which language to script in or which modules should be included in the tutorial.

Otherwise, get yourself a copy of WampServer or set-up a suitable web-server environment on your pc and make certain all is fully functional. the next time I write, it shall be the beginning of lesson 1.

C U L8R !

[Loneua Technologies]

Sure,

I might want to start up a little networked community.

Thanks!

[port5900]

hook it uo dude i'm always down to learn some thing useful
and how about PHP -=)

[iholla]

I am interested in the idea. I would like to learn more and contribute too) I will be waiting for more on this!

[Sohail]

Thanks, i can't wait to see this

[mygorillanet]

I am assuming that you have installed and fired up your local web-server successfully. You can leave it at that for now.

Before we dig into any coding however, we need to make a few simple but vital preparations.

1. Website Services
We need to decide which modules our website will implement and our target audience. Since this will be a community site then, the audience will largely depend on content and design.The modules we shall use are as listed;

- menus module - sign-up module - login module - user profile related modules - file upload modules - messaging module - user search module - blogs module - forums module - shout box or chat module - security modules -

2. Website layout and colors
Now that we know what modules shall be in our site, its time to think of designing a graphical representation of what we would like our site to look like. This can be done using any preferred image editor. My suite of choice for such simple graphics is Fireworks.

Create a new canvas of say 800 x 700 and start drawing boxes to represent tables, columns, rows, menu panels, picture frames etc. Fill the shapes with colours that suite your taste as you go. For boxes representing picture borders or frames, fill them with different resized pictures to see what they might look like. Play with border colors and fills till you like what you see.

Place text objects where menus should be and try to keep their font colors and sizes as close as possible to what your final web product will look like. This process is pretty tedious but all the time you put into this layout design will save you a lot more time once we begin coding and placing our objects.

Once you have your layout completed, save the image in an editable format. i.e if you are using photoshop, keep the file in .psd format, for fireworks, its the .png fomat. This will help us when we need to re-visit the layout design in order to change the color shades so that everything is blending perfectly.

Note: Since we shall be using php, almost no images will be placed on this site. The only images we shall display will be user photos and a few tiny icons. This is in order to ensure that load time is more affected by php processing than image dowloading.

3. Web development environment
Our web server is running, we have a design goal, we have a step by step plan, we have a complete layout, we are almost ready to start getting ugly with our code.

This is when you start thinking of which editor you are going to use. I shall be using dreamweaver...for obvious reasons. If you have a copy, then you wont get lost.

If you opt for another application, make sure you can code and debug your php, html, javascript, css easily. With Dreamweaver, error in syntax is highlighted and solutions offered. This will save us a lot of time.

There is a basic directory structure that I recommend you use for your public folder. An example, if our website is 'clone';

clone/include
clone/functions
clone/modules
clone/themes/default/images
clone/temp/
clone/pictures
clone/music
clone/videos
clone/safe

I shall explain the use of each folder as we get to it. I might add more folders as the necessity arises. For now, that should suffice.

4. Preparing and creating our database tables.

This is where we shall start from next time. I request any of you who are still interested to post a layout you have designed so we may use it as our goal for the project. It can be as simple as a child's doodle.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like my tutorial so far, please do add it to my rep. Thx. See You Soon!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------

[mygorillanet]

Is anybody done with lesson #1 ?

Two days and no feedback or reputation added since I started. I wouldnt like to be that guy who is writing himself a crazily hefty tutorial)

So, whenever you are ready, drop me a private message and we shall continue

[MaestroFX1]

Myspace went opensource I think.

[iholla]

Myspace went opensource I think.

Oh really? Where could I download the source script of the myspace website MaestroFX1? Maybe you have a copy you could share with us? By any chance, is facebook open source too Maestro?

[mygorillanet]

I do not know where Maestro FX got his info but so far I haven't come across any free distribution of the myspace source.

Thank you to those that PM'ed me and added this post to my rep. I shall continue with the next installation of the tutorial within 24hrs...I have been busy.

see you soon!