Lately I’ve been going back and forth with my colleagues regarding pre-built admin tools. My position has been the benefits of adopting a framework outweigh any off-the-shelf tool.
What is the difference between a framework and an off-the-shelf system? It’s like buying fake plants instead of real ones. off-the-shelf products leave very little wiggle room for growth and are inevitably more than what you need. They also exhibit poor usability, with there shiny plastic leaves and all.
A framework is the opposite. It’s like having the pot, soil, and seeds. All you do is water and provide sunshine. This allows your tools to grow into the environment they are intended rather than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This also establishes a standard way of coding so when new programers come on board all they need to do is learn the framework and they’re ready to roll.
Ruby on Rails is an example of a rising framework. PHP Patterns also provide an enormous listing of design patterns that can be bundled together to create honest frameworks.