The problems I have with frameworks are bloat and that they force you to work in the way that the creator of the framework has visioned, if you find a framework

The problems I have with frameworks are bloat and that they force you to work in the way that the creator of the framework has visioned, if you find a framework that fits you than you should consider yourself lucky and in that case you'd better use it to your advantage. I advice you to stick with PHP for web development opposed to other languages, in itself it would not matter which language you use, but PHP has always been focused on web programming and has resolved most underlying problems dealing with that web programming, I personally also find it one of the most productive languages not much different from C in the compiled world. I think the best option is to slowly create your own framework (PHP Classes) so it fits your way of thinking and problem solving best.