Custom Development Versus Off-The-Shelf Backends

Jack Zeal

These days, most people have moved past the simple, static "electronic business card" web site. They want an interactive application.wether it's a blog or content-management system to allow them to manage their own updates, a shopping cart system to sell products with secure checkout, or even a full-scale program designed to automate their business operations, generate documents on the fly, or store custom information and relationships.

Many web application needs appear to be "solved" problems. The "breakthroughs" in their development have been resolved, and it's a matter of comparing a range of ready-to-use products. Blogs and shopping carts often fall into this category, but there are even "canned" solutions for video-sharing sites, social networks, and online education systems. However, it's important to consider whether your specific site needs are best fit with an off-the-shelf package or a fully-custom solution. Your choice here can dramatically affect the developer you use, the time-lines and deliverables you expect from the developer, and the compromises you make.

Benefits of Off-The-Shelf Packages

Trusting an off-the-shelf package for a major functional unit, such as a shopping cart usually offers a fairly rapid deployment. You don't have to decide the main site layout or workflow. The basic setup is often little more than filling out some web-based forms to customize the site for your hosting and business needs.

You also get to avoid the "Look Mom! I made a website!" feel. A new custom site, particularly one trying to embody unfamiliar concepts, often ends up unrefined. limited error handling, bizarre choices and clumsy interface. A back-end that's been in use for five years and eight releases probably has worked off many of the rough edges. However, this is a spot where you may not be able to avoid the problems totally.if your needs involve grafting something unique into an off-the-shelf package, your developer may have to develop some new conventions to handle it.

In addition, off-the-shelf systems, wether commercial or open-source, benefit from a user community backing them. If you have an obscure problem with Zen-Cart or Wordpress, there's a good chance someone else has had that problem, and posted a solution somewhere. A custom site has one primary source of support. the vendor. who is likely to be able to answer your questions.

This user base also often turns into a marketplace of extensions. There are plenty of common-sense extensions out there.modules to let your shopping cart take PayPal or Google Checkout, modules to generate more readable URLs for your web directory.which rarely come with the system, but rapidly evolve with a popular enough system.

Drawbacks of Off-The-Shelf Packages

The simplicity of letting someone else decide the big technical details for you can come back to haunt you if you're looking for something a little off the standard. The package you started with can rapidly end up a Frankenstein's monster of custom code and third-party extensions, making upgrades and long-term maintenance difficult.

Frequently, people using relatively sophisticated pre-packaged systems end up bogged down trimming them down to an appropriate level for their specific needs. The phrase "enough rope to hang yourself with" comes to mind. For example, a shopping cart that supports dozens of distinct shipping services and inventory in 20 warehouses, may provide too many options if you're selling one item with a standard $4 postage rate.

This sort of "overkill" often takes its toll when you plan custom styling for the site. You may end up having to address large numbers of templates and icons used only once or twice in any given user's experience, but which, if left untreated will stick out like a sore thumb.

There's also the risk of having a large target. A popular web application can have thousands of installs world-wide. That creates an motivation for crackers.if they can compromise the software you've chosen, they can attack, not just your site, but a galaxy of sites. Here, you're really pulling for the vendor and support community to be able to keep ahead of the "black-hats", and keeping your install up to date is of extra importance.

Benefits of Custom Development

Outside of real-world and technical impositions and security best practices, there's virtually no limits as to what you can get with a custom website. Printer-ready legal documents generated on the fly? A jukebox of streaming videos while your searches process? Live chat invitations that harass users like gnats? It's all yours for the asking. A qualified developer will give his advice and share his experience, but usually shouldn't be saying "no" unless your suggestion is "let's store people's credit card numbers unencrypted." People looking to extend an existing back-end are often bound by the rules of that platform-- having to fit every change into an installable module that won't break a future update, for example.

Custom development often avoids the "basement pillar" problem, as well. Consider remodeling a basement with a pillar in it every few feet. Sometimes, in order to make what looks like a simple change, you must knock out the pillar, and spend a huge amount of effort and money rearranging things to compensate. In web design, these "pillars" include poor database structres, and inflexible templating systems. With custom development, you're starting with the full plan before the code is written, and, with sensible planning, will make sure that the "pillar" isn't there in the first place.

A fully custom site can also represent a better value under certain circumstances. If you know you're going to have to take an commercial off-the-shelf package, replace many key components with addons (which themselves may include seperate license fees), professionally install it, and then pay to have it professionally re-themed, the overall total for a fully custom site can be quite competitive. The long-term usability and hassle factors should be considered.a custom site can be built around your needs more closely than an off-the-shelf package, saving you money as you operate it and train users.

Drawbacks of Custom Development

In most cases, a fully custom site will cost more and takes longer than pulling out a canned back-end and slapping a theme on it. There's no real debate here.there's more labor involved, and it's often of a higher skill grade.

Building a custom site often means that you're tightly bound to the individual custom developer. You might own the source code, depending on the arrangement you get, but other developers will have a learning curve, meaning it will cost more and take longer to get them up to speed. This can become a huge point of contention if your relationship with your developer is not rock-solid, long-term. In contrast, there are developers who specialize in some popular off-the-shelf systems who can be called in quickly.

Balancing Your Needs

It's simplistic to always say "Go for a custom job" or "Go for an off-the-shelf package." In large part, which way makes the most sense depends on the adaptability of your business needs. If you know you can make do with "the same features that are suitable for most people", you can save time and money with the off-the-shelf package. However, you'll always have to remember.you're not in control of the package. Unless you intend to partially finance the development team, or custom-order any extensions you might need, there are no guarantees that your specific business needs will be the central focus of the developers. However, if you know that you're going to rely on for very extensive, very specific features, you're probably going to want the full developer attention you get from being the sole customer for a custom job.

Some Quick Questions:

These questions do not replace a full consultation with experts, but they can help steer you correctly.

Do I have unique functionality I've never seen on another site, or am I just relying on custom content or inventory to make my offerings unique? If you're relying on interesting content on a familiar framework, there's probably a package for the framework already.
Are there some aspects of my site plan which are completely non-negotiable? If so, custom development may be necessary, especially if the available off-the-shelf solutions don't touch on it.
Is there likely to be extensive back-office usage? A site that your own employees are going to spend most of the day on will probably benefit from being built custom, meeting their needs and business processes exactly.
What sort of relationship are you seeking with the developer? A long-term relationship with incremental upgrades and maintenance, or a contract job that will be turned over to someone else as soon as it goes live? If you're planning on getting someone else to maintain the site, they'll probably have an easier time with the off-the-shelf package.
Have you done your homework? Are there large parts of the site described as "do it how everyone else does it", or have you performed detailed user research and planning to specify every interaction? How much control you're willing to yield is a good indicator of how happy you will be with an off-the-shelf package.