I came across this article from NetTuts+ about the Tools of the Trade: Web Development Frameworks that the Pros use. A fairly exhaustive list! I’m starting to see why a lot of people are just overwhelmed with getting into web development; what do you learn first? There’s so much stuff out there. Add the list of the top 10 most usable content management systems and you are looking at a lot of options.
After seeing all this I thought, right back to basics, how about I blog about what I’ve chosen to use:
- Server Side Frameworks: Ruby on Rails. If you’re getting into web development without any real baggage then this is the way to go. All the good frameworks are MVC based, so I think this comes down to programming language preference: PHP, Ruby, ASP.NET, Python, Groovy, Java.
- JavaScript Frameworks: jQuery. Sticking with jQuery because it seems to be the most widely used and the one with the most tutorials and documentation.
- CSS Frameworks: undecided. Need to investigate this more. Leaning towards 960 gs.
- JavaScript Animation Frameworks: huh? Might worry about that when I need it…
- Content Management Systems: WordPress. Again due to its widespread use, as well as its large selection of themes and plugins. A runner up here is Joomla for similar reasons. Yes these are both PHP based, but that really doesn’t seem to matter much at the end of the day.
Also noticed this article about choosing a web development framework which might be handy if you’re undecided.
Hmmmm…Some interesting stuff here. If I had have researched a bit more before I embarked on my web dev journey I probably would’ve spent WAAAAAY less time learning PHP from scratch and some basic Javascript! I’m still writing my own PHP routines, but I use Prototype as a JS framework. Perhaps it’s my complete lack of formal training in programming, but it took me some time to get to grips with Prototype. Still don’t use it too much, mainly just for the AJAX-y bits on pages
Comment by Ben — March 9, 2010 #
Nearly forgot – I do all my own CSS too. Interestingly, something like 960 would have been VERY helpful at the beginning of my project! Might have to look into it for future use.
Comment by Ben — March 9, 2010 #
Another useful summary. Why bother doing all that research when someone else (you) has done it all for me? The limited amount of research I have done have pointed me towards a similar conclusion (WordPress, JQuery and 960 where necessary). Hadn’t looked into programming much which is odd considering that’s my background (or perhaps it makes perfect sense).
That looks like a good article you’ve linked to… but you’re right. The list is pretty overwhelming. I guess there are some advantages to having been hanging around the web dev world for over a decade. It rules out a lot of the fluff for you.
Comment by Lindsey — March 10, 2010 #