PHP Framework suggestion

#1

Post by zeved » Fri, Jun 20, 2014, 8:43 PM UTC

Hello! I am a freelancer and I was given the task to create a car park / junkyard site. However, I dont really know what to use. I thought of using a CMS but I will have to modify quite some stuff to fit my needs and I'm affraid I will bump into the CMS' API and that will set me back alot. What do you recommend? Keep using a CMS (and if so, which one?) or go for a framework? I think it's better to use a framework so that everything will link together nicely. However, I have little experience with frameworks but I'm not affraid. Do you have a suggestion for a PHP begginer (sort of). I tried CI and Smarty but I don't really feel at home with them.

Thanks!

Re: PHP Framework suggestion

#2

Post by neolizzard2k » Fri, Jun 20, 2014, 8:50 PM UTC

Cms -> typo3 Framework -> silverlight

But if you ask me - it's try and error case. Test some frameworks and use the where you feel save. Usually as a beginner you should take one with a bigger userbase (e.g for questions)

Re: PHP Framework suggestion

#3

Post by pdfpro » Fri, Jun 20, 2014, 8:55 PM UTC

Instead of trying to learn a PHP framework, try learning how to build modules/plugins for a popular CMS. You get a lot of functionality out-of-the-box with a CMS (Drupal, Wordpress, etc.), and a lot of different theme options (themeforest.net). Additionally, using a CMS is going to be much more secure than creating a web app with a framework from scratch - especially as a beginner. Furthermore, there are many, many 3rd party modules/plugins that you can use instead of building everything from scratch. Once you learn how to build modules/plugins the right way, you will be surprised how much creative latitude you have working inside a CMS.

Re: PHP Framework suggestion

#4

Post by krapp » Fri, Jun 20, 2014, 9:01 PM UTC

I think that it's more important for modern PHP programming to be familiar with PSR-0, Composer and the Model-View-Controller pattern than necessarily a specific framework, because depending on how simple this site needs to be it can be done entirely by pulling in, say, Twig and a url router and some other packages into Composer.

If you want a framework that does less for you, then consider Slim Framework. If you want one intended for scalable projects with a lot of existing libraries and helpers, then consider Laravel (though in the latter case, the learning curve can be a bit steep.)

Re: PHP Framework suggestion

#5

Post by edoceo » Fri, Jun 20, 2014, 9:16 PM UTC

+1 to krapp. The patterns in Yii, Cake, Zend are very similar. Try one, then another to see which feels better. Or simple ones like Slim, Twig or Radix

Re: PHP Framework suggestion

#6

Post by johnny22 » Fri, Jun 20, 2014, 10:23 PM UTC

many of the popular frameworks and cms projects are based on (or use many of) symfony2 components. looking at symfony2 and silex will give you a pretty good handle on how they work.