a. Do you call stored procedures via the mysqli-adapter? Or do you extend some adapter?

b. Are your callback functions and hooks implementing the Observer design pattern?

c. What’s in your default module? Isn’t the home page (default?) usually showing some content from a specific (named) module?

I’m looking forward to drop by communit.as soon you’re ready :)

First, you should always do what works for you. Advice is just advice. Define your problem and solve it the best way you can. Design patterns and frameworks don’t solve problems, you do.

As far as frameworks (in general, but Zend in particular) it was my experience that learning how to use the system was completely and totally worth it. It did take some time and tinkering, but the fact that I can do things like implement a comprehensive database table object in three lines of code is pretty compelling.

ZF, it is worth stating, is very take it or leave it compared to something like…RoR. If you just want to use Zend_DB_Table for database abstraction, you can do it without using the controller setup. No problem. Pick and choose whatever makes sense. As I was starting from scratch, it made sense for me to use the whole thing.

As far as including files, I hear you. I hate include and require statements. That’s why you will find exactly *one* in most of my applications. The one inside my __autoload function. By picking a naming convention for your classes, using one class per file, and writing a proper __autoload, you’ll never write another include statement or suffer when you move something.

I should also point out that I chose the framework (and the approach in general) because they made sense for what I was doing. You have to decide what makes sense for you. I will say that a good framework, once you know how to use it, will vastly shorten the amount of time you spend writing the same bits of code over and over.

If you’ve got a lightweight, MVC based solution that works for you and the problems you have to solve, that is awesome! Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke!