Be strong.

Yes it is custom php. does it mean google app and heroku is out of question?

Yes, but there is https://phpfog.com/ which should be really good. It's developed by appfog, which is like Heroku and AppEngine

We're hosting matchist (http://matchist.com) right now with PHP Fog and it's great if you want to just get going. I didn't want to (at least for now) deal with any sysadmin stuff.

We threw up our custom CodeIgniter install, configured our custom domains, SSL certs, etc. and there was (and still is) very little friction in getting going. Their support is also fantastic - immediate instant chat every time.

That said, if you're looking for granular custom control, PHP Fog isn't for you. (No cron jobs, no access to logs, etc.)

How does the pricing compare?

I bookmarked your link. looks good and long :-)

I am not programmer, only Web App owner. I have people that code for me and now that the site is finished and about to release i would like to know what steps should i take.

OK all, I got your point and I guess I have no other choice but to use it. Thanks for the comments.

Can any of you know what padmapper.com is about through landing page? is it business? private? is it like taskrabbit? that's what i mean... can i do it as well?

You can know through the domain name. Then when it loads up, the tag line is "Making Apartment Hunting Suck Less" with google maps right behind it. To me that's pretty clear that it will tell me what apartments are available for rent in the region I specify.

It is not for hidden reasons. The reason is that i want to attract 'others' to my site- for future use.

It sounds like you're trying to trick more people into registering by hiding the niche from the people who aren't in it.

What will almost certainly happen instead is that fewer people will sign up overall. Especially for something like 'real estate', which is a well served market by a lot of B players, you need to entice people into signing up -- your best bet of that is to clearly identify the benefits to your target demographic.

There is no benefit in having 1 million people sign up that then realize the service "isn't for them". If you're charging for membership, then obviously that changes, but nobody is going to sign up for a pay service unless the benefits are clearly spelled out.

If this was the case, wouldn't that give you the wrong impression to the interest level for your product?

I mean, how would differentiate the one that are seriously interested from the "others"?

well written answer. I am looking for faster lane, don't have 3-5 years. What do you suggest?

That's why I did started Python, Until I saw this amazing site.

Thank for the quick response. How long does it take to learn these 3 languages (consider the fact i had 10 years ago CS degree but never used it)?

Here is what you need to do:

1. Learn HTML/HTML5 - I can't really recommend anything here. I just sort of picked it up.

2. Learn Ruby on Rails - http://ruby.railstutorial.org/. You can probably pick up a lot of HTML and CSS from this tutorial. I spent about 50 hours working through this. You're probably looking at 80 hours or so.

3. Learn JS - http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/javascript

Once you've put about 200 hours into the the above, I'd say you're probably capable of building a working website. It won't be pretty, but it will work.

Refractor and fix from there.

If you're in it alone, I'd say 3 - 5 years.

Sorry, didnt get your answer. It may take me up to 5 years? and what do you mean by saying "... in it alone"

Okay, to build something like 42floors you need the following knowledge (guesstimating):

- HTML5

- CSS3

- Javascript

- basics of image manipulation

- some kind of backend language (PHP, Python, Ruby, Node.js,...)

- some kind of database engine knowledge (SQL, NoSQL, both?)

- user experience planning, testing and execution

- extensive server administration

- different APIs

These are just the technical aspects, now count in the whole business side of things. 3-5 years. Probably more if you want to master all of the above.

Got the picture. Well, that will not put me down. I have CS degree, I have 14 years experiences in High-Tech industry as a QA and lots of knowledge. My goal is to be a founder of a similar site (technically) like 24floors.com and I need to start somewhere. Thanks tzaman.

Truthfully it depends. Some people pick up on stuff quickly. Just come up with an idea and start building. I find that the best way to learn. If you get stuck just Google.

Google is the solution to any problem. Thanks god we have Google.

Looks shorter, i need to learn what you wrote and tell you if it is OK or with bug. Anyway thanks for dropping your comment