Sometime in the end of March Microsoft and partners announced 2009 WinPHP competition. I always wanted to try to create an app with both PHP and C#, so I decided to register – my idea is to create a project, which will demonstrate both PHP and .NET connectivity and Deep Zoom functionality.
My project will allow people to upload huge collections of photos (probably archived in one zip file) and get nice online gallery. Users will have selection of Ajax or Silverlight version and password protection for galleries. If I have time, I will also add ability to select different photos shuffle style, background theme and/or music, and maybe even automatic tour with captions.
PHP will work as front-end language (with Zend Framework), and C# will be responsible for all Deep Zoom work (which I haven’t tried/tested yet, but I believe it will work). Not only it’s quite useful app, but also showcases a lot of cool technologies. Leaseweb, sponsor of this competition, provided us with dedicated servers so I will hopefully publish alpha version in some weeks.
Why I chose to participate? Firstly, it’s good experience, because I do a lot of PHP, but also more and more C#, so it’s great opportunity to learn more. Secondly, in my belief, such competitions are really useful for portfolios and CV’s – I’m currently looking for a job, so it can help. Lastly, competitions are fun, so, I’m in.
Part of competition requirements is “blog about your experiences with Windows Server 2008 during the contest” so I’ll write around 2-3 posts every week about project status, problems with switching from Linux back to Windows and more. Also, I’m really bad in designing websites, so if anyone would like to help me – please feel free to contact.
