The Zend Framework is a fairly standard, (optionally) MVC PHP application framework. It comes with all the usual functionality; request routing, database access, templates (through view files) etc. It also comes with a lot of extra functionality that you might find useful in your application, including some of the best web services libraries available, especially when working with Google’s APIs.

But here’s the kicker: it works entirely standalone. The classes and their methods can, generally, be used statically in any context, or at least independently of the framework. You can use the Zend Framework’s libraries to manipulate dates and times, work with RSS feeds, interact with Google’s Gdata APIs, even generate PDF files (although the functionality isn’t as mature as FPDF).

Fred Wu recently blogged about using Zend Framework with CodeIgniter. It’s a fantastic way to make use of the efforts of all ZF contributors, as well as speed up development significantly. Chances are, if there’s something you’re trying to do in your web application, the Zend Framework can help.

So check it out. It might just make your day.