I have spent a lot of time recently working with Zend Framework. As I get further into its features and capabilities, the more I enjoy developing websites and web applications with it. While researching ideas and options, I came across ZFDebug, a plugin that adds a debug bar to the bottom of your pages if you are in the "development" environment. The plugin is hosted on Google Code and is licensed under the New BSD License.

At current release (1.5) ZFDebug offers the following features:

• Cache: Information on Zend_Cache and APC.
• Database: Full listing of SQL queries and the time for each.
• Exception: Error handling of errors and exceptions.
• File: Number and size of files included with complete list.
• Html: Number of external stylesheets and javascripts. Link to validate with W3C.
• Memory: Peak memory usage, memory usage of action controller and support for custom memory measurements.
• Registry: Contents of Zend_Registry
• Time: Timing information of current request, time spent in action controller and custom timers. Also average, min and max time for requests.
• Variables: View variables, request info and contents of $COOKIE and $POST

(list from ZFDebug)

There is a new section on the Resources page for Frameworks. This section of the resources page lists popular PHP frameworks like Zend Framework, which is my personal favorite, and CakePHP. The six common PHP frameworks that were added are also listed below:

• Zend Framework
• CakePHP
• CodeIgniter
• Symfony
• Horde Application Framework
• eZ Components

Do you use a different framework from those listed above? Leave a comment about it and I'll get it added to the list.

PrototypeXtensions adds additional components to Prototype.js and Script.aculo.us, two of the most popular and widely used JavaScript frameworks/libraries available. While these are extremely useful tools for creating visual effects, UI improvements, and Ajax methods, the creators of PrototypeXtensions realized a need for additional components. The library is currently at version 0.1.2 and is released under MIT License. There are three main categories of additions, or extensions, that are added by this library with specific features within each category. I have listed a basic feature overview below.

Features

There are detailed explanations and examples for each feature available so be sure to check out the website for more detailed features and information. You can download the current release in the original uncompressed form or download the smalled Minified and Gzipped version.

LightWindow is a JavaScript framework based on Prototype and Scriptaculous. If you aren't familiar with these two amazing resources, it is definitely worth your time to become familiar with them. They are two of the most useful resources available for Web 2.0 developing. LightWindow takes the combination of those two frameworks and adds some really cool things to it. The reason I decided to use LightWindow the first time was to embed media easily into my website. I needed to show some videos and wanted a better way to do it than just embedding it into the page (I hadn't designed a good spot on the page for a video). LightWindow was not only able to meet the needs of the video I wanted to show, it ended up meeting needs I didn't even have at the time. Here is a listing of all the great features that LightWindow boasts.

• Media - You are able to load various types of media, including YouTube videos, Flash videos (SWF), QuickTime videos, and Flash Paper PDFs. There is support for all and every media type; that's pretty hard to beat.
• External Websites - You are able to load an external source as well as an internal source. This creates a type of pop-up window, but it is much cooler!
• Images - You are able to load images from internal or external sources. You can also load image galleries for viewing multiple images in a nicely laid-out design.
• Forms - You are able to load and use forms within the LightWindow. Full functionality is provided with easy to follow instructions for setup.
• Pages - You are able to load various page types, including fluid, fixed, and specific dimensions.
• Inline Content - You are also able to load basic content from a container. (The author calls this one a "gimme.")
• Themes - You can create your own theme for colors, styles, and animations. This is not easy to accomplish however. The author has not released any tutorials or help files for this, but says that it is possible.
• On the Fly - You can create and instantiate a window on the fly without needing to create it first when the page loads.
• Parameters - You can use various parameters to customize your window. Some examples are title, author, and caption.

This is one of the easiest frameworks to learn and to use. At the cost of free, I don't think there is a better choice out there that boasts all the features, ease of use, and quality of LightWindow.

You can visit the LightWindow website and download your copy of the framework (v2.0). If you like what Kevin has done, be sure to donate and show your appreciation!