Codeigniter is an open sourced PHP framework that makes building web applications easy and efficient. At Crush, we’ve been using it for almost two years and it’s stood up to our (demanding) expectations. We found Codeigniter so successful; we’ve even used it to create our own content management system (CMS) with our own international solution for multi-lingual websites.

So, what exactly is it that makes Codeigniter so great?

Well, truth be told, there isn’t one definitive reason. There are actually several reasons why Codeigniter is our number one web solution.

1. Open Source: Codeigniter is an open source project. This means it can be downloaded for free and customised however you want. Moreover, because it’s open source, there is no need to buy a licence for it, which in turn allows us to keep costs down for our clients.
2. Lightweight and Ultra Fast: The small size of the Codeigniter project (only 2.1 Mb!) makes it extremely quick to download. Its’ small core files means your applications load faster than any other framework. We can honestly say that Codeigniter is all about the speed.
3. Easy Setup: To configuration Codeigniter, all you have to do is unpack the project to a folder on your server before configuring the few files. This may sound confusing, but for experienced developers, this can be done in minutes.
4. MVC: Codeigniter uses a model-view-controller file structure, which makes it logical and easy to work with, whilst developing a client’s project.
5. Community: The expansion of Codeigniter wouldn’t be possible without its dedicated community, who are always ready to help solve other developer’s problems. There are many libraries, helpers, API’s etc. written by the members of the community to assist one another in their projects.
6. User Guide: There is a large online manual on the Codeigniter website, which is more than helpful when you start your journey with Codeigniter.
7. Simple Code: Codeigniter is based on a simple code. This makes it really handy, not only for customisation, but also when working in team on a large project. Unlike other frameworks, you don’t need to read countless numbers of documents before you can start your project.
8. Templates: Crush’s developers are particular fans of the Codeigniter templates. They are great to handle and easy to edit, compared to other frameworks like Smarty.
9. Database: Codeigniter does not use full-blown object-relational mappers (ORM) like Symfony or cakePHP. This consequently makes the database models more flexible and, when used with Active Records, it makes writing Mysql queries ultra easy.

In summary, Codeigniter is a good alternative to other, more complicated frameworks currently in use e.g. Symfony, cakePHP or Ruby on Rails. Like any other programme, choosing to use Codeignitor is a decision unique to each developer. However, if you want your web application to be fast, small and quickly assembled, Codeigniter wins, hands down.