Aspen:Introduction
From Aspen Documentation
Welcome!
At Trellis Development, our goal was to develop an easy-to-use, powerful web framework that was modular in nature and would support a wide range of websites and web-based applications. The result of one years' worth of daily contributions has produced the Aspen framework.
We decided to share the framework as open-source so that we could give back to a wonderful community of people who have always been so helpful to us. We felt that it was solid product that would benefit others, but would also grow even more powerful with everyone's support.
Target User
The Aspen Framework is recommended for website or web-application developers at any experience level. Basic understanding of web development, FTP, setting up a MySQL database, and moderate PHP is required.
The framework is designed to work in at least one of three ways: as a single application, as a stand-alone website, or both. If you're developing a web-based product, we're sure the Aspen framework will be a great start.
Technical Overview
The framework may be configured in three modes:
"Website" Mode:
- Public website pages that have when-needed access to the framework code, but does not operate within the framework itself.
"Web Application" Mode:
- A website or web-based application operating within the framework and installed modules (meaning, the application relies on the framework for URL handling, template display, etc.).
"Combination" Mode:
- Both a website and an application. An example might be an administrative back-end which relies entirely on the framework for it's base, and static php pages on the front-end which access data stored in the database.