In these posts I will be publishing code snippets, tutorials and plugins that I have used (or created) while making sites for Conduct HQ.

Primarily I have been using a framework called CakePHP (which I love), it is very flexible and once you have the database and frontend designed a MVC (model, view, controller) web application is easily created (baked),  following this process, the design can be applied and the application can be finetuned to the end product.  I am mostly using Cake 1.2 at the moment and have begun using Cake 1.3 which is nearly ready for full release.  Among many improvements Cake 1.3 now has native support for all javascript frameworks (not just prototype and scriptaculous) which is great as I prefer jQuery.

I use jQuery with various plugins, mostly for user interfaces and any ajax I need.  My favourite plugins at the moment are jQuery Tools and jQuery UI for excellent and easily configurable user interface components like modal boxes, sortable elements, datepickers, accordions and many more.  For easy ajax forms you can’t go past the jQuery Form Plugin.

Our company has also been producing iPhone applications and any time we need a web service for the application it is inevitably CakePHP that we use.  With Cake the creation of a JSON web service (or any other for that matter) is simple and straightforward, and with a little work creating a content management system or even a web application is also easily developed.

I have also been using Wordpress and its extensive list of community produced plugins for blogs and content management systems and even some small online stores.  There are many themes available and customising the themes or creating them from scratch is easy.  For larger online stores you cannot go past Magento which I am currently in the process of exploring more fully (and learning from a more experienced colleague).

Anyway I think that is enough of a summary for my very first post.  Stay tuned for more.