Developing Web Application

Question

I am a PHP developer who is seeking some guidance. I am developing a paid web application service. I have already developed the first phase of the project. The code is organized but I want to re-implement it in an MVC structure. I have just started using CodeIgniter for my freelance clients and it works really well.

Question:

What is good development practice in this situation?
 a. Develop using a framework like CodeIgniter
 b. Develop a completely custom API using the MVC design pattern

Example of web applications: Basecamp, Beanstalk, Less Accounting etc.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Frameworks exist for the purpose of speeding up and simplifying your application design. In most cases, you're better off using an existing community supported framework. Not only will this save you dev time, but it will further promote the framework's use and continued development

Answer 2

How much experience do you have with CodeIgniter? It is a risk factor to use new technology on a project. On the other hand, how much experience do you have overall? If that is limited, then writing your own from scratch will inevitably steer you into uncharted territory. Not that a framework is a guarantee against this, but it may help to avoid the most obvious fallacies.