Php Gt

PHP.Gt is a "lightweight [Web] application development toolkit aimed at automating deployment, streamlining development and respecting web technologies."

It's an un-framework, a deliberate effort to reduce the amount of code, new technologies and APIs needed to develop Web-based applications. It consists of the bare minimum of glue necessary to effectively bind PHP/Javascript/SQL written by programmers to vanilla HTML/CSS written by designer/artists. Instead of using a separate language (a la AllaireColdFusion) or embedding HTML in PHP or PHP in HTML, or an awkward template system or complex framework, it uses a handful of trivial policies to ensure that the PHP/Javascript code will recognise relevant HTML/CSS definitions. Its main claim is to "respecting Web technologies", i.e., that you can write good PHP/Javascript, or sound HTML/CSS, or good SQL, without having to blend them or blur the boundaries between them. PHP.Gt takes care of the integration.

The home page is http://php.gt

A working demo application -- a simple database-driven "to do" list -- is at http://todo.phpgt.com with source viewable at http://github.com/g105b/Todo.Gt

It looks unnecessarily complex to me for the little demo. Lots of files without a clue to what they do or why so many files are needed. Event-listeners to look for Esc and Enter key etc.? Building a desktop GUI clone? Why? What parts do the designers do versus programmers? And I don't like the idea of separating the SQL from the app task that uses it. It creates too many files and too much hopping around. I'm a programmer, not a frog.

It is intended to illustrate how desktop-like a Web application can be, and like many tech demos it deliberately incorporates unnecessary but illustrative features, such as hooking keystrokes.

The clear separation between file types -- what you call "separating the SQL from the app task that uses it" -- is not just good SeparationOfConcerns, it's good for team development. The HTML/CSS can be written by the designer, the Javascript/PHP by the programmer(s), and the SQL by the DBA, all without stepping on each other's toes.

If you're a one-man band handling all aspects of development, maybe it's not for you. One-man band development is not really the intended audience. I recall that you were looking for a way to support design by non-technical personnel. PHP.Gt does that by allowing the art/design team to implement dynamic Web site designs from nothing more than vanilla HTML/CSS.

I suppose every organization or project has different partitioning refinement needs, and that's why we have so many frameworks and options out there. Maybe one-size-fits-all is just not the way to go.

Indeed.