[UPHPU] PHP Store

[cole at colejoplin.com]

Hi Everyone,

At a former job, we had created a system doing kiosks in airports and  
such, and we would have killed to have internet capability back then,  
but we also really needed touchscreen, and no keyboards. Front-end  
could be PHP/Flash/whatever, it's doable, that's not the big concern  
for the project. Which brings me to what I think you should consider  
as far as audience, and two very different delivery scenarios.

1) Kiosk (drive-thru) - Don't even think about keyboards. Touchscreen  
is good, a credit card reader is nice. There are people who build  
these things. They also know how to link these things to an existing  
POS (point-of-sale) system. Often the financial backend system that is  
required by the business will drive the front end. So you have to ask  
yourself, what kiosk-style hardware with POS software options do I  
have? That will take a little research. Do they have a POS already? If  
not, start looking at hardware solutions.

2) Web - This is all about the keyboard, no card reader. If they pay  
online, does it include tax? And they just do a local pickup? For this  
scenario, you can do PHP/whatever with no problems or concerns. Just  
make sure you have a way to handle the financials for the business.

These are two separate projects, and should be approached that way. I  
can say from personal experience that a custom kiosk/pos system is a  
major undertaking. But it's an option. Web is simple, your choice of  
tech. Regardless, you should be paid profusely for this.  ;)

-- Cole

Quoting Wade Preston Shearer <lists at wadeshearer.com>:

>> My client wants the kiosk to be a touch screen (no mouse) without a  
>>   microphone.
>
> Knowing very little about touch screen technology, I don't know if a
> web-based interface would work well. If it did (ie, being able to
> touch and click the links) however, then an HTML or flash + PHP
> solution should do the trick.