NYCPHP Meetup

[Mitch Pirtle]

(Disclaimer: I'm a co-founder of Joomla)

On 8/22/07, Ben Sgro (ProjectSkyLine) <ben at projectskyline.com> wrote:
> Maybe I could use one framework for making simple websites, and another for
> applications?

Bingo. That is exactly how I approach things:

1. Simple websites, like corporate portals: Joomla CMS (Drupal as an
alternative)
2. Big, complex custom sites: CakePHP (Symfony as an alternative)
3. Targeted, specific custom sites: Joomla 1.5 Framework (Zend
Framework as an alternative)

It may be to my familiarity with Joomla, but I cannot launch a
garden-variety corporate site on anything else as quickly or
efficiently. Stock Joomla and a template, and I'm done. Total time: 15
minutes, and the admin interface is still the easiest I've been able
to find out there.

For monster projects, I like the scaffolding-style frameworks to help
with the load. Integrated testing and change management/deployment
tools are essential in this regard.

Then there are the simple, specific applications or websites that do a
specific thing. Those can be pieced together using what I call
'includes style frameworks' like Joomla 1.5 Framework or Zend, as you
just load what you need to get the job done, and can control bloat.
Here you might end up just sticking with the stuff you've already
created, as it does indeed sound like you have your own framework
going on already.

Just like a carpenter, our jobs as technologists should be to know how
to use a multitude of tools (hammer, saw, etc) and our experience
should be able to tell us when to use which.

I've branched out to Rails (and of course Ruby) and can say I'm
writing more elegant PHP code as a result.

-- Mitch