Hi,
I'm pretty much new to PHP and still learning as I go. (aren't we all) I'm working on a Web 2.0 startup and I wonder what PHP Framework should I use.
It must be free and of course enables commercial use, supports AJAX, DB, etc. And I would prefer that it didn't force JSON when using AJAX, I think XML is better... I don't know :)
What do you recommend?
Thank you.
-- EDIT:
I found the Zoop Framework, it looks powerful! What do you think?
http://framework.zend.com/ - Zend framework is one of the most popular, as well as Zend being very involved in the development of PHP as a language
http://cakephp.org/ - Cake is an MVC framework that works in a similar way to frameworks like Ruby on Rails.
On the question you imply about JSON vs XML, remember that you can express the same data in a smaller payload with JSON than you can with XML. In addition the creation of JSON on the PHP side is a simple call, as well as the parsing of JSON on the client side. Consider JSON as a wise move with AJAX.
Also have a look at CodeIgniter which relatively faster web framework.
CakePHP is a reasonable MVC framework - cakephp.org/
JSON can be much faster than XML as it is less verbose - it's also in "ready-to-use" format for your JavaScript!
If you want a slightly more modern framework, the at Yii Framework is PHP 5 only and Lithium, a new Framework from the former lead developer of CakePHP is 5.3 only! KohanaPHP is a slightly more feature rich fork of CodeIgiter (built in Auth module).
I think you should take a look at some of the most popular frameworks (Cake, CodeIgniter, Prado, Symphony, Zend) and choose the one you like the look of the code best.
Look at one of the populair frameworks, but you can best use a PHP5 one, if your server supports it.
To be fair, PHP frameworks should only be used once you have a good understanding of PHP.