Been playing around with the new version of Zend Framework (1.8). The command line Zend_Tools has alot of potential and is very useful for newbies, but still lacks a lot of functionality (support for modules in the command line would be pretty cool!). I loved the Application/Bootstrap approach this puts a lot of much needed structure to a very flexible framework. It also centralizes plugins to the front controller and of course custom initializations using _init methods in the Bootstrap file. Although missing in the reference documentation are examples when using a more modular approach when using the Zend_Application.

Also the quick-start tutorial from Zend’s website has been updated! It includes a very nice approach to models (much needed overhaul in the next version of ZF). Overall a very solid release from the community. Looking forward to using it in new projects.