I’ve figured I need to take a step back and re-analyse exactly what it is I’m looking for. There are now a lot of CMSs and frameworks in the market, all boasting about exactly the same. The most irritating claim of all is:
“Framework/CMS XXYY is designed to make life as easy as possible to develop your robust, user-friendly websites”
… REALLY? NEVER!
The time has come where some investigation is needed to separate the men from the boys. What do these features mean? How can you tell straight away that a CMS/framework isn’t for you? Guess what – I’m going to find out!
Step 1 – CMS vs Framework
The first question you need to ask yourself is do I want to use, A – a framework, or B – a content management system. Distinguishing between the two will half your list of altenatives straight away.
Frameworks
A framework is library of code that you tie together. It’s like another layer that sits on top of PHP and helps to speed up the development of an application. It provides common snippets of code that you are likely to use within your application, allowing you to focus your time and energy on the really bespoke stuff.
If coding was a piece of cake… a framework would be the ingredients. You’d bake and ice it.
Content Management Systems (CMSs)
Content management systems are exactly what you’d think them to be – they’re there to manage content! Essentially these are applications that are already written for a purpose. They’re the next level up from frameworks. A lot of these systems provide APIs and hooks that allow developers to write modules/plugins to extend them. The trade-off is that they’re often not as flexible and as frameworks e.g. you may be restricted to using an specific technique/architecture.
If coding was a piece of cake… a CMS would be a Victoria Sandwich. You can decorate how you please and add some filling if needed.
Which should I choose?
Frameworks are for:
- Standalone bespoke applications
- Application rich websites
CMSs are for:
- Standard websites
- Open ended websites where the requirements haven’t yet been released
Responses
Here is one you may not have come across:
http://solarphp.com/
It has taken a long time coming, but with the advent of PHP5, a lot of frameworks have been released. The PHP4 frameworks are unfortunately getting a little long in the tooth, with very little they can do to update themselves; all the advantages are in PHP5.