If you can avoid the mess that is PHP, do. Don't ever try to build something in PHP that needs to be clean and clear. Messy and obscure is easy in PHP, clean a

If you can avoid the mess that is PHP, do. Don't ever try to build something in PHP that needs to be clean and clear. Messy and obscure is easy in PHP, clean and clear is hard, therefor the system will be working against you all the time. However, you can't always avoid it. Sometimes you just can't use anything else. RoR has as down side that it requires a lot more control over the server then PHP does. Also, you need to learn to think in RoR's MVC model. It you can, RoR will be a great assistent helping you along the way. If you can't, it will be as helpful as a bureaucrat.