You're making progress and that's a good thing! You already know that you are going to use a framework to develop your site or your application. But which one? Here is a checklist that you can use to avoid making a mistake:
1. Popularity and community size
The more well-known and recognized the framework is, the more it will be “living,” evolving and complete: new ideas, the number and quality of plug-ins, etc.
2. Philosophy
This is the very essence of the framework: it is a fundamental criterion for ensuring that it will meet your needs. A tool developed by professionals for their own needs will obviously meet the demands of other professionals.
3. Sustainability
Before choosing a framework, make sure that it will be able to keep up with you for the duration. This simplifies both the maintenance and upgrading of your applications.
4. Support
Another criterion that should not be overlooked is the ease of finding answers to your questions and getting help. Identify the support that is available: from the publisher. From a community (mailing lists, IRC, etc.)? From Service Companies (development, support, training)?
5. Technique
To avoid becoming trapped in a labyrinth, it is always preferable to choose an interoperable solution; one that respects best practices in terms of development (design patterns).
6. Security
Any application is potentially vulnerable. To minimize risk, it is always better to select a framework capable of ensuring security functions (XSS management, for example).
7. Documentation
It is an absolute necessity to evaluating the nature, volume and quality of existing literature about a framework: a well-documented tool is both easier to use and more upgradeable.
8. License
Licenses are important simply because they can have a significant impact on your applications. For example, an application developed using a GPL-licensed framework will necessarily be subject to GPL. On the other hand, this is not the case for an MIT-licensed framework.
9. Availability of resources on the market
Perhaps you would want to have a technical team surround you during the development phase or in the longer term, for both maintenance and upgrades. In other words, make sure that the skills required for the tool that you are using are available on the open market.
10. Try it out!
That's the key! Don't be satisfied with reading reviews, comments and rumors, good or bad, on the Internet. By testing it out, you will be able to make up your own mind and ensure that you are completely comfortable with the tool.
