Laravel – basic outline and examples of projects

Laravel – core principles and functionality

They say that when the devs play the Word Association game, they immediately say “Laravel” when the lead says “PHP”. Some say “mama, save me” and some “the love of my life”, but that’s the part of another story… What we are about to immerse into is the world of Laravel and if you still have a strong urge to read about PHP – here’s the link. But promise to come back!

So, Laravel is PHP’s open-source server-side framework. It organizes the code, provides many additional features and commands (so you won’t have to create them from the scratch). Overall, the framework improves the popular programming language so that even Java supporters decide to drink coffee near the window during the rain rather than post deprecating memes about PHP. 

PHP and Laravel are like two very look-alike black hoodies. However, when you come closer, you understand that the first one is chaotically put together, with odd stitches, and the pocket weirdly large. The second one is proportional and the stitches are completely invisible, the pocket is spacious and does not stand out a mile. 

It’s like with PHP you have freedom of choice – any kind of stitch, any fabrics, any method of joining. You can make a great hoodie if you already have much experience. However, there’s a chance you end up with a duster. With Laravel, you get a set of pre-written rules about how the hoodies should be so they would be wearable, washable, and durable… It’s easier to make a product of good quality if you have all dos and don’ts. 

So, one of the features of PHP is its lack of strict architecture and strong typing. It provides great flexibility, but also makes the code unstructured. That’s what Laravel is for PHP – an organizer. It gives this programming language a sense of structure, enriching it with pre-written classes and other functionalities. So what is Laravel used for?

• Modular packaging system contains functions that you would have to code from the scratch without Laravel;
• Eloquent Object Relational Mapping turns database tables into classes, improving the access and the manipulation with them;
• The Artisan command-line interface allows using pre-build commands that the Laravel processes to a computer in the form of lines of text;
• Automated testing improves the QA process;
• Homestead VirtualBox allows immediate out-of-the-box development;
• Authorization techniques in Laravel make it easier to configure and control authentication feature;
• Model-View-Controller architecture, dividing an app into three components: MODEL (data retrieval, state maintenance), VIEW (an interface and UI rendering), CONTROLLER (operations that can be performed with data, user input);

SapientPro Laravel Project Example

Contentoo

It’s one of the many sites built with Laravel that SapientPro worked on. We decided to tell you about this project, as it contains the most vivid Laravel features, but first a little about the platform. Marketing and content creating gathers together copywriters and designers on Contentoo platform. They write about their skills and experience, provide sample works, and wait…

The client – somebody who needs a banner or a text, or the whole marketing strategy – registers on the platform and creates a task. He or she writes all the requirements for it and waits… The system creates the best matches. It performs an automatic selection of content creators for each project, and the work begins. That’s the first feature Laravel enables.  Such an approach to clientele distribution improves future performance. Other features are the following:

• The system has 7 access levels;
• The clients can add their favorite content makers to their team;
• Tasks are structured by deadlines, dates, briefings, and participants;
• There are also messenger and deadline reminders available. 

Top 5 websites built with Laravel

Global Dietary 

Global health has become a number one priority only now, in 2020, after the epidemic showed us how vulnerable we are even with all the money and knowledge. Well, Global Dietary has worked on global health improvement when it still wasn’t mainstream. Based at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, it specifically targets food consumerism issues and how different diets affect the health of whole nations. Their founders’ opinion is that human relationships with food are not fully known yet. What we know is that different nutrients have influence over our body depending on our habits, diseases, genetics, sex, age, nationality. However, the exact influence, like if you eat A and B you get C, is not revealed. That’s what Global Dietary is trying to find out – the interrelated links and data concerning residents of all countries, and their food habits. 

This Laravel website example allows signing up and logging in to have access to downloadable data. It also enables you to share personal dieting habits, as the more people objectively evaluate their eating lifestyle, the more reliable the data is. Also, along with the registration, you get an opportunity to subscribe to e-mail news. Moreover, let’s not forget that it’s basically a large database that gets updated every day, and it must produce viable results, after analyzing each entry. That proves that if you want a web app that includes multiple-users registration, database configuration, management, and email dissemination – Laravel (and PHP) is a great solution. 

Startups.com

There are numerous start-up accelerators all over the world. We wrote articles about Asian, European, Australian, and North American companies of that kind. They are powerful – having their community of developers, tech specialists, businessmen, and funders. Accelerators made it a tradition to arrange numerous meetings and help you to build and later pitch the startup. However, its major drawback is that you need to move to the country/city of their residence. Startups.com allows you to learn everything distantly. It contains 600 masterclasses and online courses, modern business planning tools, and an entire online community of people who can help you with startups either with pieces of advice or with funds. 

This one is a SaaS product, as to get access to all courses and apps, you need to subscribe to the plan that suits you best. It includes signing in and signing up features, and as soon as its software as a service – it is due to gather the whole database of users. Boom – the good old PHP framework comes to the rescue with its great performance in the database configuration. So why use Laravel for SaaS?

• it perfectly manages the multi-user app;
• it simplifies free trials delivery and deal based offers.

Startups.co keeps track of more than 1 million new ideas for startups and manages 16 million signed up users. 

BonAppetour

It is a platform for travelers who aim to have a more interesting adventure in a new country than just visiting architectural monuments. BonAppetour creates an online community for hosts and guests to provide and experience authentic national cuisines of Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Florence, Singapore, and Bangkok. Instead of going to some fancy and overdue restaurant, get a real Roman barbeque or come to a Thai dinner party. That will immerse you in the cultures more than any tour guide. Homemade authentic food rocks! 

The platform allows you to register and manage your profile. It has three user roles: guests, hosts, and admins. First, search for available solutions by town or by date. Then book the offer and choose the number of guests. Make a payment through BonAppetour’s platform and – voila – the only thing left is to wait for the date to come. Laravel enhances all of these functions and makes their delivery seamless. Effective database interaction makes information gathering and management highly productive. 

Laracasts

Learn before you earn, and with that Laracasts can definitely help you. It provides various courses for web developers to acquire new skills and improve old ones. The product is created by Jeffrey Way, who has worked with Laravel since its third version. He is one of the main speakers of each Laracon. Creating numerous podcasts, lectures, and tutorials on this programming language, he learned how to explain difficult topics in simple words. You will be in good hands of a knowing professional, ehm, sorry, of LARAVEL PROFESSIONAL, and it’s important to note. 

It has a CaaS model of business delivery (Content as a Service), so basically, Laravel manages different plans and access roles here. The platform also offers a group account, so the registration is somewhat more difficult than the standard one. By the way, you can learn Laravel from the scratch here, and perhaps the next startup or website we write about, will be yours?

ExploreGeorgia

A great example of how the country’s government can use an online world in order to promote its economy. In this case, the tourism economy. ExploreGeorgia is a platform that leads you all the way through the unique places of this beautiful country. Well, an online version of the places, as on this website will have to choose where to travel with your offline baggage on an offline plane… well, you get it. ExploreGeorgia reminds the websites of some cool tour agencies, only with Georgia being the only destination.

The menu contains all towns available for visiting, and they are divided into northern, central, and southern. This way, it is convenient to plan the trip so that you could travel to different cities with minimal time loss. You can also find a destination by the type of activity you want to experience or the kind of cuisine you want to try.