Is PW a good fit for this?

[Curious808]

I'm non-developer/non-coder, but very familiar with HTML, PHP, various CMS's, Linux server environment, from messing around for years.

Looking to spend the next few winter months developing a social media platform idea, which is basically a site that creates profiles for registered users that can be expanded with lots of different info over time, and that info can be matched to different situations. So it's lots of basic database stuff: creating new fields, adjusting forms and field labels in the front end, continually adding and tweaking, based on use and feedback. I guess it would be similar to a dating site, where there are many profiles, many attributes for each profile, and lots of matching.

While developing, I also want to learn more about PHP and database set-up, and to get a practical handle on developing -- I'm not looking for the easiest route to a result, self-education is a part of it.

Does ProcessWire sound like a good choice for this, as opposed to using PHP directly, or using some other application or framework that I don't yet know about?

[OrganizedFellow]

PW would be more than IDEAL for this.

Take a good look at the Modules section, and see what might apply towards your project https://modules.processwire.com/

And you will call the API page your second home https://processwire.com/api/ref/

? ? ?

[qtguru]

Normally you can use Processwire, however I would imagine you would have to build a lot of things around Processwire's API personally I would find it easier to go with an application framework, as that would give me more freedom around the architecture. You would need to know alot about Processwire API to pull that off, but it is possible, in one of my threads, I played with the concept of having a MVC like structure. So the choice is up to you. 

But personally for that type of application I would go towards an application framework, as I would imagine you would need much more frameworks around caching, DB ORM. 

[Pixrael]

https://prog.tube/laravel-php-create-a-social-network-full-app

https://github.com/lvntayn/laravel-social-network

[qtguru]

@Pixrael

What's the experience around Laravel, I've seen people love it, but it rubbed me off the wrong way, most of it feels too opinionated , I find myself looking towards Symfony because of my Spring Boot experience 

[Curious808]

Thanks for the thoughts! I've started to use Laravel. It reminded me that, 5-6 years ago, I'd spent a while trying out an idea using CodeIgniter. My guess, from that experience, is that I could use PW or Laravel for this, but I'd have access to a wider range of stuff with Laravel. In the end, I wouldn't learn much about the real nuts and bolts of PHP or SQL, but if I get a basic prototype of my app running, I'll have a good overview of all the zillion things out there, how they can fit together, and how to put something together, at least, roughly, on my own. Which sounds like a good outcome, and useful if it goes further and I have to work with designers, developers, engineers. ?