If you’re a PHP ninja, and not a die-hard Rubyist, you may be wondering what options are out there and which framework is right for you. The answer depends on a number of factors, and today we’ll review the questions you should be asking when choosing a PHP framework for your next application.
We’ll also take a look at popular PHP frameworks and what sets them apart. That way, you can make an informed decision on which framework best suits your project — or if you should even use a framework at all.
Determining Your Needs
Before you can decide on a framework for your project you should first understand its needs, its requirements, and a little about the development team working behind the scenes. There are three main questions to ask yourself before going forward:
- What’s the primary focus of your application? Will it be an ecommerce business, a social community, a messaging platform or a directory? If you’re building an ecommerce site, for instance, you may want to choose a framework with some baked-in libraries with proven extensions for dealing with credit card processing. On the other hand, a lightweight messaging platform may need to scale very rapidly or use multiple servers and databases for load balancing and faster connectivity.
- What will your hosting environment be? Some frameworks require additional PHP modules or software installation on the server, which may not be an option in shared hosting environments. Furthermore, a lightweight framework on which everything is self-contained and h ighly portable may not...
