Learning Laravel is a great move! Stick with that.

I've used Zend Framework, Symfony2, and CodeIgniter before moving on from PHP to Ruby (and Rails/Sinatra). Laravel is largely inspired by Ruby on Rails, and the MVC pattern is used throughout most of these frameworks, so you can't go wrong.

I love the web2py and django frameworks for python. Never got too far with CakePHP.

Personally I can't stand them. They always seem to get in my way. When I code, I like to do things my way. That of course is just me.

Re's
Rob Whisonant

Wordpress is becoming lot like a framework...

When i cannot go with WP , we like to use CI (Code Igniter).

I think it's a case of 'horse for courses'.

Some projects lend themselves to the idea of a framework and some don't.

If I'm doing a quick bit of code then it makes no sense. If on the other hand
I'm building a pretty big web app then a framework is the best option. The
last project I used a framework was Yii and it was pretty good.

I haven't looked at it recently but when I was using it they were just about
to launch 2.0. The community was pretty lively and supported each other so
it was a relatively easy learning curve.

Good luck

Steve

Rob I'm with you..
I've tried various and they always seem to get in my way and it seems I'm faster just doing it from scratch. On top of that is is (thus far) ALWAYS faster.

I've been looking at some micro frameworks that might actually help out a little (and also enforce me better coding standards)... the ones that I found interesting so far are:
Flight - An extensible micro-framework for PHP and
GluePHP - documentation

This is the main reason I am moving over to a framework. I think my clients deserve a solid framework that is easy to expand upon. Also I like the ideas of 'events' offered by Laravel (and I am sure other frameworks have it), makes expanding the codebase in the future very simple for myself or other developers.

However you do raise a good point with the speed issue.

Laravel or Codeigniter when it comes to PHP.

I've used CodeIgniter with the Datamapper ORM extensively.

I eventually decided however to write my own framework because none of them do things exactly the way I want. It isn't actually as difficult as it sounds and it's time well spent because you can use it over and over, enhancing the framework as you go along.

Cheers,

Neil

codeigniter is the most simple one to learn... buat I have still a problem creating templating that will work dynamically

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I worry when experienced developers say they've never used a framework or developed their own. Developing your own framework is a fantastic learning experience, but it is in no way more productive than using a mature framework which has been developed by thousands of developers vs little old you. Don't kid yourself.

Second, if I were to hire somebody to build me a complex application, I'd insist they *didn't* use their own framework! In fact, if they insisted back, I'd look elsewhere because this shows they haven't grasped a critical aspect of software development: DRY, and don't reinvent the wheel. How much more time are they wasting during the project because they are averse to relying on libraries and frameworks?

Bonus of using a framework for applications is that they follow certain conventions, have tonnes of well developed tools and helpers, can be expanded (should do this rather than build from scratch), and usually have a community with a pool of developers you can dip into should your fave developer jump ship. Who wants to be left with a complicated application built by a lone gunner using a framework nobody else is familiar with?

I'll grant that some applications (of the simple, small kind) don't warrant the use of bloated frameworks, but the whole attitude of "I'll build my own because.." is misguided on one end, and damn right irresponsible on the other.

Build a framework to learn with, learn a framework to build with. Keep it simple, don't repeat yourself, don't reinvent the wheel, leverage opensource software, contribute, and focus on what matters: building great software, on time and in budget.

Don't take my word for it. Ask this question on SO.

Why use a framework with PHP? - Stack Overflow

Part of it has to do with need.
Each site I develop is so different, that I could not use a framework if I wanted to.
It's easier to go framework-less, as raw PHP.
Or using heavily customized CMS, which I've also done. (I mean core code, too, not themes.)