I'm new here and I'd like to hear some opinion on which existing libraries/APIs/etc. could I use in my relatively complex "hobby" project.
I am investing some time to realise an idea I had for a while now. Now, before jumping right into coding, I have already done some planning with a notation that I made up
At this point I need some advice from any experienced fellows.
OpenID: is there a tendency that regular users would use such a feature and is it pretty straightforward to implement?
Smarty: Groups should be able to make templates for their "channels". Is this the best approach? The rest of the front-end will be modest and most probably would not be "heavy-duty" templatable. Are there disadvantages in using Smarty on a traffic heavy site? Should I rather make prefabricated page layouts for them to choose and just let them CSS the hell out of it (I reckon only the serious groups would venture into a custom design, so maybe there could be some quality assurance done by the moderators).
I have more questions but I don't want to overwhelm you.
Thanks.