When looking for the best platform for creating custom web projects, the choice often falls on Laravel. What is interesting about this free PHP framework and what is the reason for its growth in popularity?

In the article, we offer our own view on how Laravel helps to solve the problems of online business and in what cases it will really be the best choice.

Versatility with 100% customization

This characteristic will most likely be named by the manager as the main advantage of the framework. But after all, almost every (if not every) CMS developer claims a similar advantage.

What is the difference?

The versatility of CMS is both a plus and a minus. Yes, you can roll out a project of any type and purpose on it — from a news portal to an online store. But there is a significant price to pay for this. And it’s not about money (although a little about them too), but about the fact that together with CMS you will get a lot of tools, modules, scripts «out of the box» that you will most likely never need, but will constantly consume a resource.

If we are talking about Laravel, then the universality seems to be somewhat different, any projects are developed on the framework without reservations. Features and functionality are compiled or created individually. In the end — nothing more. Utility as it is.

This approach results in the following two benefits of Laravel.

No limits

The site owner is not limited in the possibilities and functionality of the project on the framework.

No matter what salespeople tell you, when using a CMS and the constant growth of a web resource, sooner or later a collision with the limitations of the system is inevitable. And yes, competent developers will be able to bypass them or come up with something else to implement the functionality the customer needs. But it is difficult and problematic, and therefore not cheap and not always within the framework of the CMS ideology.

When developing on Laravel, there are no such problems. The project is easily scaled in the right direction. Absolutely any implementations are available with the framework: complex functions, services. And all new features are added within the logic of the framework, without the need to bypass the initially laid down restrictions.

Customization in everything

Update design? Change filters or site search engines? Customize the most convenient admin panel for yourself? Yes, all this is possible with Laravel without any strings attached.

Project customization on CMS is largely limited by the logic of the system. It is even more difficult to personalize a site where ready-made solutions are implemented. But not when using the PHP framework. The fact is that even ready-made packages are created in such a way that they can be completely disassembled and assembled, using only the necessary from them.

And since we are talking about ready-made solutions, let’s pay attention to them.

Variety of packages

Packages help fill the resource with the necessary functions — analogues of modules in CMS. The library of pre-installed software is freely available. The authors are constantly working on development and support, so finding a time-tested turnkey solution that best suits business requirements is not difficult.

And remember the previous point, they all adapt to the unique needs of a particular project.

Safety

The framework protects web resources from two main dangers on the web:

• XSS attacks (cross-site scripting);
• SQL injections.

Potentially dangerous html tags are escaped and output as an escaped line of pure text that cannot be executed.

Own ORM (technology for interacting with the database by providing API methods for typical operations: fetch, add, update, delete, etc.) eliminates the transfer of «raw» SQL queries and normalizes all parameters when they are built. Everything that in theory can harm is removed from them.

Potentially dangerous html tags are escaped and output as an escaped line of pure text that cannot be executed.

Own ORM (technology for interacting with the database by providing API methods for typical operations: fetch, add, update, delete, etc.) eliminates the transfer of «raw» SQL queries and normalizes all parameters when they are built. Everything that in theory can harm is removed from them.

High page loading speed

This parameter affects the ranking of the site in search engines, and customer loyalty.

A key feature of Laravel is caching management. By default, cache is enabled at the file system level. At the same time, it is possible to independently choose a method for storing session objects using a number of technologies:

• file storage on the server – standard session objects;
• cookie
• Memcached;
• Redis;
• saving data in the database;
• temporary PHP array.

By choosing technologies that store data in the server’s RAM, it turns out to seriously reduce the time to access them.

In addition, the framework implements a process queue mechanism. This reduces the load on the server, which is critical for high-load projects.

Built-in authentication mechanisms

Thanks to the open protocol (scheme) of OAuth authorization, it is easy to implement access to personal areas on the site through social networks or forms. This saves time and simplifies the authentication process.

Language versions

The platform provides unlimited opportunities for projects designed for multiple regions or languages. A Laravel web resource can support the required number of versions. And the organization of multilingualism does not require a lot of time.

Community of developers around the world

Laravel project owners do not face the problem of finding a contractor and moving from one developer to another, as is the case when launching self-written sites or specialized CMS.

The ease of programming and the wide possibilities of the framework ensured the rapid emergence of a large community of developers. This allows you to find a specialist with the right level and experience.

Short development time

This is another plus, determined by the advantages of the Laravel framework for developers. Any non-standard functionality on the CMS will require serious labor, and this is time and investment. The framework, on the other hand, allows you to implement only the necessary features and seriously save on creating web projects and their finalization.

Robust architecture

The code structure of the framework follows the popular pattern — MVC. It highlights models (models), views (views) and controllers (controllers).

This is a time-tested solution to an efficient application structure that separates the logic from the visual part. MVC helps to write more readable code and makes the development process comfortable by separating the actions of front-end and back-end developers.

An additional plus is that such an architecture greatly reduces the likelihood of problems when making changes to the code. The layers are isolated and there is no need to take into account, remember or assume numerous connections that may be affected. Simply put, this model reduces the number of errors.

Mail and notifications

Laravel provides an API and a whole set of drivers for sending mail both locally and using cloud services, as well as support for sending through other channels, including Slack and SMS.

Built-in validators and testing

These are constructs that help validate data based on predefined rules. You can create your own rules, error messages and validators in general.

Such tools reduce the number of errors in the code, increasing the reliability of the web project.

Laravel has a mechanism for creating unit tests based on the PHPUnit built-in testing framework. During performance tests, it provides the ability to emulate visiting pages, as well as user actions (clicking on links, buttons, entering text, etc.).

Convenient and safe work with databases

Inconsistent changes to the database can easily break a web project. The problem is especially relevant in group development. The migration technology implemented in Laravel is designed to eliminate the difficulties in using and updating data.

Migration files are a kind of timeline for creating and editing tables. They contain the structure of these tables or its modifications. This model ensures safe work with the database: update, rollback edits, add and remove parts, and perform other data operations.

Task launch scheduling

The framework’s own scheduler is designed to flexibly manage the schedule for performing systematic actions. In this case, the developer does not need to generate many Cron instances.

As a conclusion

The attentive reader has probably noticed that the last couple of benefits are more important not for the potential site owner, but for the developers. But since these features of the framework allow you to optimize the time for project implementation, reduce the likelihood of errors, they are 100% useful for the business for which the web resource is being made.

Laravel is a powerful PHP framework for building websites and services with unlimited possibilities.

It is just perfect for non-standard projects, as well as those that are sure to grow and scale. However, its flexibility and breadth of features make it a great choice for sites with classic functionality as well.