PHP Frameworks Hosting
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008I’ve recently been looking into PHP frameworks. For you PHP programmers with complex websites, I highly recommend that you consider using one of these. A framework greatly speeds up web development and simplifies management. It is essentially an interface to PHP which wraps many common tasks such as database reads\writes, form handling, sessions handling, etc.. into higher level, simpler programming. It also allows you to separate your code from the user interface, allowing you to change appearances and layouts of your website without modifying the logic in your web application. A famework drastically simplifies and organizes development. There is a slight learning curve when using a framework, but it’s worth it. Also, because there is another layer of processing, there is a slight performance hit, but again, it is usually worth it.
There are many PHP frameworks out there with the most popular being Zend and CakePHP. Most are free. There are many sites out there outlining and charting the features and benefits of each, but it appears that overall, CakePHP is the best.
Most frameworks use a concept called MVC (Model, View, Controller) which essentially logically organizes all parts of the web application. Models define the objects - users, products, widgets, etc… Views define all visual (UI) aspects - tables, header, footer, charts, graphics, etc… And finally, Controllers define the application logic - loading data into the objects, and what the objects do.
Bottom line, if your website uses a database and processes form data, you will probably greatly benefit from using a PHP framework. Check em out!
And of course, if you need a web host, be sure to check out our Web Hosting Service Review site.
