For starting out I'd definitely recommend CodeIgniter (http://codeigniter.com http://codeigniter.com) simply because the documentation is second to none. Since

For starting out I'd definitely recommend CodeIgniter (http://codeigniter.com http://codeigniter.com) simply because the documentation is second to none. Since learning CodeIgniter I've tried CakePHP and Zend, and found CodeIgniter is easier to use, and just as powerful, so I've stuck with it. In fact the BugMuncher (http://bugmuncher.com http://bugmuncher.com) back end & API is built on my custom version of CodeIgniter Also check out the datamapper ORM plugin (http://datamapper.wanwizard.eu/ http://datamapper.wanwizard.eu/) if you want Rails-like Active Record goodness.