I'm not sure how much I should disclose b'c the idea seems good and I don't want anyone to steal it. Also I'm kinda worried about paying a coder to develop it for me b'c of the litigation costs involved in actually enforcing an NDA or NC. So I'm considering approaching it myself, but the only coding XP I have is Basic, a little html, some Access, and a C++ data structures class from last semester. I don't even really know what php, sql, java, and css do but I can read code well enough to tweak things when they are obvious. The Gist of the Idea: I need to create a page on my site that allows users to log into an account and give them a control panel with options for inputing information into their account. Each item they add will have certain attributes and descriptions associated with it that should be manipulatable via the interface. The site will send them emails about items in their database based on settings they've chosen. They should be able to change some of the settings through email links, or click to go directly to that item and do more advance things from the site. It needs to also be integrated in two other ways: A favorite link that will take them to their database with pre-filled information on the new item. A plug in that can be dropped into other sites, like with a clickable icons in drupal or wordpress blogs, which will take the user to their database. Of course if they don't already have one, all these methods will take them to a sample page where they can register and immediately start. With my limited understanding of web design, I'm assuming maybe I could just pick up a php book and design this on my own as it seems pretty simple? I also assume I would need an sql database to store everything and where the php part would get the conditions for it's actions? Or I could just pay someone to do it? My CS major friend doesn't know php/sql but knows java. Could it work through java?
Php should do it. Sql/php is not hard. It's really easy to learn. You will enjoy it once you get started. What I would do is to quickly learn some basic php and download some small scripts and play with them then you should be able to get started. You can start with creating that page and database for it. I don't know about your project but if it's going to be used by many people, you might want to work with a php expert to make your coding stable and secure.