The web development team I work for is starting to get projects with more in-depth PHP requirements, and it's becoming apparent that we will soon be able to benefit from using a PHP framework to speed up the development process. We know that the various frameworks like Zend, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Ruby on Rails, etc. each have their own strengths and weaknesses, so we're trying to determine which one will fit our company the best.
Here's some information that will help aid in making this decision:
- We mostly serve small, local businesses
- We do a lot more work with content management and simple data retrieval than big web applications
- We're more interested in increasing development speed than being able to build the ultimate web app
- We'll need a framework with strong support and lots of documentation and tutorials
- The framework should be something that's future proof, so we don't learn a framework that goes down the tubes next year
I know beggars can't be choosers, and I really appreciate any help we get, but I'd prefer if you could specify why you would suggest a particular framework. A response like "CakePHP is the best. The end." won't do us any good, we need to make sure we're picking the one that's best for our company, not the one that just happens to be popular at the time.
Thank you very much for helping us in this important decision for our company!
Which Framework for Our Company?
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Number1SuperGuy
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Re: Which Framework for Our Company?
To start, I prefer CakePHP. The documentation is good, but Zend's is better. Zend also is the only framework that is backed by a large company, and the PHP company at that. But CakePHP does have advantages so it depends upon which of your criteria is more important.
- We mostly serve small, local businesses
O.K. so any of the frameworks fit this.
- We do a lot more work with content management and simple data retrieval than big web applications
In my opinion, Zend would probably be the most complex for this sort of thing. CakePHP may have more than you need for this, but it's RAD so its easy everytime.
- We're more interested in increasing development speed than being able to build the ultimate web app
This is where Cake really shines. Design a DB, run a script and you have a usable web app to customize as you wish.
- We'll need a framework with strong support and lots of documentation and tutorials
Zend is the best and will probably continue to be the best for this one, though the other including Cake do have a manual and tutorials/support forums/IRC.
- The framework should be something that's future proof, so we don't learn a framework that goes down the tubes next year
Zend wins this one, however I wouldn't bet on Cake or CodeIgnitor going away anytime soon. They have a large user base and active development.
- We mostly serve small, local businesses
O.K. so any of the frameworks fit this.
- We do a lot more work with content management and simple data retrieval than big web applications
In my opinion, Zend would probably be the most complex for this sort of thing. CakePHP may have more than you need for this, but it's RAD so its easy everytime.
- We're more interested in increasing development speed than being able to build the ultimate web app
This is where Cake really shines. Design a DB, run a script and you have a usable web app to customize as you wish.
- We'll need a framework with strong support and lots of documentation and tutorials
Zend is the best and will probably continue to be the best for this one, though the other including Cake do have a manual and tutorials/support forums/IRC.
- The framework should be something that's future proof, so we don't learn a framework that goes down the tubes next year
Zend wins this one, however I wouldn't bet on Cake or CodeIgnitor going away anytime soon. They have a large user base and active development.
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Number1SuperGuy
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Re: Which Framework for Our Company?
Thank you very much for your input, that is all really helpful information! I'd love to hear what some more people have to say on the subject.
Re: Which Framework for Our Company?
I like Zend because I find its unit tests to be very easy to read, and they have an undeniable advantage business wise, and Im a very business oriented programmer. I like that they have employees on payroll, designated project leads, and a very rigorous methodologies in place to maintain code quality.