Explaining basic trading concepts to a web developer isn’t the best use of time. When you’re building a trading web site, you want to talk to web developers that are also traders.

That’s us! The owner, Shaun Overton, has been professionally involved in trading since 2005 and programming since 2007.

Choosing Between Off-The-Shelf Versus Custom Programming Solutions

There’s usually a compromise between accepting an off-the-shelf solution and achieving your desired functionality. The software might allow for you to implement your idea, but it often involves a steep learning curve if the idea is unconventional or uncommon.

It’s ultimately up to you, the business owner, to decide the right course of action. If you can find software that does 90-95% of what you need, then I strongly recommend using that software. Off-the-shelf software minimizes the risk of bugs (i.e., problems) and often costs orders of magnitude less than a custom solution. Support is also easier because there’s a dedicated support team.

Alternatively, off the shelf solutions may not fit the bill. Perhaps a critical piece of functionality is missing or there’s nothing at all resembling your needs. In that case, building a custom solution is the only option.

What Powers Sophisticated Web Sites?

If your site needs to do something unusual or unique, then it needs to be programmed from scratch. A good example is my indicator prediction tool. When you  click on an indicator, the site comes pre-loaded with data and indicators. After entering custom settings, the user creates a custom graph and statistics demonstrating the value of the indicator.

Needless to say, there’s no software off-the-shelf that includes my custom indicators, let alone one that analyzes them with my unique approach. My team and I had to build it.

The indicator prediction tool uses Django, an open source Python framework that’s a Model View Controller (MVC). The details of MVCs are complicated, but the headline summary is that MVCs simplify the process of building customized web sites. The open source methodology ensures widespread support and that the building blocks of custom tools may have existing code that can be replicated.

If you want to gain a better understanding of MVCs, you can read more on Wikipedia. The article is fairly dense with lingo. If you’re building a site and would like to learn more about whether an MVC is appropriate, email info@onestepremoved.com.

Technologies Used

The OneStepRemoved team has significant experience with Django (the most popular Python framework) and Laravel (the most popular PHP framework). We generally recommend using Django because using Python minimizes the likelihood for relying on other programming languages for unforeseen feature requests in the future.

Laravel is a fantastic framework, but it’s written in PHP. PHP was designed for web development; it interfaces between servers, databases and client pages. If applications need to run independently of serving web pages, then the project will need to rely on an additional programming language to complete the project. That requires more experience with different technologies, which can make future maintenance of the site a concern. Using a general purpose language like Python limits the likelihood of adding additional languages.

Take The Next Step

Send an email to arrange a time to discuss your project. The best way to reach us is info@onestepremoved.com.