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CodeIgniter VS Water.css

Compare CodeIgniter VS Water.css and see what are their differences

CodeIgniter logo CodeIgniter

A Fully Baked PHP Framework

Water.css logo Water.css

Make your tiny website just a little nicer
  • CodeIgniter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-21
  • Water.css Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03

CodeIgniter features and specs

  • Performance
    CodeIgniter is known for its exceptional performance and fast execution, which is beneficial for applications requiring quick load times.
  • Documentation
    CodeIgniter offers comprehensive and clear documentation, making it easier for developers to understand and use the framework effectively.
  • Easy to Learn
    CodeIgniter's simple and straightforward syntax makes it relatively easy for beginners to learn and start developing applications quickly.
  • Lightweight
    The framework is lightweight and does not impose many dependencies or require a specific server environment, providing flexibility to developers.
  • Community Support
    CodeIgniter has a strong and active community, which means plenty of resources, forums, and add-ons are available for developers.
  • Built-in Security Features
    CodeIgniter comes with built-in security features like XSS filtering and CSRF protection, helping developers to secure their applications with minimal effort.
  • MVC Architecture
    The framework follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, promoting clean code separation and better organization of the project.

Possible disadvantages of CodeIgniter

  • Lack of Modern Features
    CodeIgniter does not include many modern features found in other frameworks, such as built-in ORM or out-of-the-box RESTful API support.
  • Limited Modular Extensions
    It has fewer modular extensions compared to other frameworks like Laravel or Symfony, which can limit code reusability and scalability.
  • Manual Routing
    Routing in CodeIgniter is somewhat manual and less intuitive compared to other frameworks that offer more automatic and flexible routing mechanisms.
  • Outdated PHP Practices
    Some of the practices and conventions in CodeIgniter are considered outdated with respect to modern PHP development trends.
  • No Built-in Authentication
    CodeIgniter does not come with a built-in authentication system, requiring developers to implement their own or use third-party libraries.
  • Less Emphasis on Testing
    CodeIgniter has less built-in support and emphasis on unit testing compared to other frameworks like Laravel, making it harder to implement TDD or BDD.
  • Lack of Native Composer Support
    The framework's native support for Composer, PHP's dependency manager, is not as robust as other modern frameworks, which can complicate dependency management.

Water.css features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Water.css is a CSS framework that requires no classes, making it very easy to use quickly on simple projects without learning new class names.
  • Lightweight
    It is very lightweight compared to other CSS frameworks, resulting in faster load times and improved performance.
  • Responsive Design
    Water.css provides a basic responsive design that's accessible out of the box, helping to make projects mobile-friendly with minimal effort.
  • Unopinionated Styles
    Water.css offers a minimalistic style that doesn’t enforce a specific design, allowing developers to build upon or customize to fit their needs.

Possible disadvantages of Water.css

  • Limited Customization
    The framework offers a minimal set of styles and doesn’t have advanced components or extensive customization options unlike more complex frameworks like Bootstrap or Tailwind CSS.
  • Lack of Components
    Water.css does not provide a rich set of components or utilities for building complex interfaces, which can limit its usefulness in larger projects requiring a variety of UI components.
  • Basic Feature Set
    Its feature set is very basic, offering just foundational styles without the advanced features available in more comprehensive frameworks.

Analysis of CodeIgniter

Overall verdict

  • Yes, CodeIgniter is a good choice for developers looking for a simple and efficient PHP framework. It's particularly well-suited for projects where performance is a priority, and extensive feature sets found in larger frameworks are not necessary.

Why this product is good

  • CodeIgniter is considered a good PHP framework because it is lightweight, easy to set up, and requires minimal server resources. It offers a straightforward approach to building web applications, especially for developers who appreciate simplicity and performance. Its comprehensive documentation and active community support are additional positives.

Recommended for

  • Developers who need a lightweight and fast framework
  • Projects with straightforward requirements and simplistic architectures
  • Developers who prefer a framework with easy installation and minimal configuration
  • Smaller projects or prototypes that require rapid development
  • Projects with limited server resources

CodeIgniter videos

PHP CodeIgniter tutorial: What is CodeIgniter and why should I use it? | lynda.com

More videos:

  • Review - Laravel vs Codeigniter - A quick comparison for you to decide
  • Review - Review Codeigniter 4

Water.css videos

No Water.css videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CodeIgniter and Water.css)
Web Frameworks
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
93 93%
7% 7
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100
PHP MVC Framework
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare CodeIgniter and Water.css

CodeIgniter Reviews

  1. A PSR-compliant framework with diverse set of facilities and capabilities

    You can build any kinds of web apps and sites with this framework without consuming substantial server resources.

    🏁 Competitors: Lumen Framework

CakePHP vs CodeIgniter: Which PHP Framework is Best for Development?
CodeIgniter: CodeIgniter was developed by EllisLab and released in February 2006. It is known for its simplicity and speed, designed to help developers create full-featured web applications quickly. CodeIgniter emphasizes a lean and minimalistic approach, providing just enough to get the job done without imposing too many restrictions.
Top 5 Laravel Alternatives
CodeIgniter is simpler to use for the majority of developers. Laravel’s convenience is matched only by its adherence to a small set of standards and guidelines. CodeIgniter also offers improved error handling and more leeway in terms of customization. Overall, in comparison of Laravel and CodeIgniter, CodeIgniter might be the simpler choice for most web programmers.
Framework review: Laravel vs CodeIgniter
Let's start with CodeIgniter first. It focuses on performance and speed. It offers a simple, easy-to-learn syntax, making it ideal for beginners. CodeIgniter uses its own proprietary Active Record implementation for database operations, which provides a simple and intuitive way to interact with data. Unlike Laravel, CodeIgniter does not enforce a specific architectural...
Source: infinyhost.com
10 Ruby on Rails Alternatives For Web Development in 2022
Laravel is a PHP web framework that was built by Taylor Otwell in 2011 as an attempt to replace the older framework CodeIgniter that lacked some important features, like built-in customer authentication and user authorization. The current version of the framework, Laravel 8.16 has a great infrastructure of web development tools that facilitate queue monitoring, server...
The Most Popular PHP Frameworks to Use in 2021
Laravel is billed as “The PHP Framework for Web Artisans.” It was developed by Taylor Otwell, who wanted a framework with elements that CodeIgniter didn’t have, such as user authentication.
Source: kinsta.com

Water.css Reviews

We have no reviews of Water.css yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodeIgniter should be more popular than Water.css. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CodeIgniter mentions (10)

  • 19+ Laravel Best Practices for Developers in 2024
    For history's sake, you should know that Laravel was built in place of the CodeIgniter framework as a modern replacement because the CodeIgniter framework missing important core features such as built-in support for user authentication and authorization. Since its initial launch in 2011, Laravel has implemented built-in support for localization, views, dealing with sessions, routing the request to the specific... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • How to Install Codeigniter on a Local Server in 2025?
    Visit the CodeIgniter official download page and download the latest version. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Top 12 PHP Frameworks For Web Development in 2024
    CodeIgniter is an open-source PHP framework with 18k+ stars and 7.8K forks on GitHub. It follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture and provides a structured way to create and organize code. It provides a set of libraries and an intuitive interface to accelerate PHP web app development. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Why I selected Elixir and Phoenix as my main stack
    Over the years I have tried different frameworks, mostly in PHP, like Code Igniter (2010), ProcessWire (2014) and Laravel (2015). - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • In One Minute : CodeIgniter
    CodeIgniter is an open-source php web application framework created by EllisLab Inc and it is now a project of British Columbia Institute of Technology. The framework implements a modified version of the Model-View-Controller design pattern. It is praised for its performance and the quality of its documentation. It's currently licensed under the MIT License, although the previous version was released under the... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
View more

Water.css mentions (3)

  • List of awesome CSS frameworks, libraries and software
    Kognise/water.css - A drop-in collection of CSS styles to make simple websites just a little nicer. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Looks great on my machine
    Slap this on it and you're good: https://github.com/kognise/water.css/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Show HN: Skruv – No-dependency, no-build, small JavaScript framework
    I used the base stylesheet from https://github.com/kognise/water.css, but I'll prune down the list. Thanks for the feedback! - Source: Hacker News / about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CodeIgniter and Water.css, you can also consider the following products

Laravel - A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

Tailwind CSS - A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

CakePHP - The Rapid Development Framework for PHP

Instagram.css - Complete set of Instagram filters in pure CSS

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

dimple - An object-oriented API for business analytics powered by D3