Frameworks/tools for blog creation using PHP/MySQL

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Frameworks/tools for blog creation using PHP/MySQL

Jazztronik

I want to create my own blog, but I don't want either to use some pre-made commercial builder such as Blogger.com, nor to create it from scratch because it would take a lot of my free time.

I'm a little lost regarding blogs because for some reason I've never been interested in making my own... until now. So, is there any framework or tool (which uses PHP+MySQL and/or XML, CSS) which is suitable to help me create my own custom blog?

Jazztronik

I've been investigating some platforms, especially Wordpress which looks like a very comprehensive and complete blogging manager to place in my own site. But I've seen other names such as Movable Type and TextPattern.

Which one would you recommend?

Mindzai

Wordpress is pretty much the standard, but personally I don't like it. It really depends what you want to do with it though. If you just want something to let you get blog posts up then it will do the job, just be warned that it is not unknown for it to have some pretty big security holes, and if you want to develop for it the code is a bit of a procedural spaghetti nightmare.

ryanlund

Agreed with mindzai, wordpress is a real pain in the arse to develop for......personally in your shoes i would right my own, simply because i find it more fun then developing using a framework or using some pre-made rubbish.

But, whatever moves your furniture =)

Jazztronik

Mindzai;1026392 wrote:
Wordpress is pretty much the standard, but personally I don't like it. It really depends what you want to do with it though. If you just want something to let you get blog posts up then it will do the job, just be warned that it is not unknown for it to have some pretty big security holes, and if you want to develop for it the code is a bit of a procedural spaghetti nightmare.

Well, a priori that wouldn't be a problem. I had to get used to OsCommerce, which is another procedural mess for e-commerce solutions, and re-build, add and change a lot of things in it in my last job.:p

@ ryanlund:
mmmm, to create my own from scratch would be a real pain in the arse just because I should have to spend a lot of time implementing all the back-end and management modules. That's why advices on some PHP-made blogging framework/platform would be appreciated.

olddocks

I have seen many many frameworks and the best frameworks i have seen are cakephp and codeigniter. Both are so good and easy to implement without any difficulty.

Mindzai

I'd second CakePHP, I work with it alot and it's very good, if a little on the heavy side (though this is mitigated somewhat by its excellent caching support). They even have a tutorial on building a simple blog designed to introduce people to the framework.

Jazztronik

Thanks for your suggestions. However CakePHP was not specifically made for blog building..., Mindzai, that tutorial you pointed me to looks like it's lacking in-depth (I'd also have to familiarize myself with the MVC design pattern which I still don't fully understand :o ). That would be much more helpful than using plain PHP, but I would have to build all the implementation of my blog.

The main snag with CakePHP is that I'd like to have all the back-end and blogging management already implemented. And starting from this point, quickly write my own posts, implement some changes of code if necessary (PHP, MySQL, CSS, HTML, Javascript...), adding some plug-in, add my own add-ons in the future...

Now, Wordpress, which is specially made for blog building, is a real mess if I want to adjust some code by myself. So, would you suggest me other similar frameworks, platforms or whatever they're called which are cleaner and friendlier for programmers?

NogDog

No specific suggestions from me, but you might want to look at http://php.opensourcecms.com/scripts/show.php?catid=2&cat=Blogs to see examples and user reviews of 16 (at this writing) different PHP-based blog apps.

Jazztronik

Thank you NogDog! I'll check it out!