I already had a working Eclipse installation that I had used to try out PHPeclipse for Eclipse (not to be confused with the PHP IDE), so I didn't want to bother downloading a brand new full package of Eclipse that includes the PHP IDE and all its requirements. So, I set about on a tedious journey to figure out how to install PHP IDE using the Eclipse Update Manager. These are my notes.

There's really only three main steps he went through: disable PHPeclipse (if installed), install the other software needed by PHP IDE, and finally, install the PHP IDE plugin itself. That's it (assuming all goes well with the prerequisites).

You can grab the latest copy of the Eclipse PHP IDE from the project's website.

The International PHP Magazine conducted a poll last week, asking for your opinion on the 'Pre-requisites of a good framework'. The options provided include:

• Strong separation of data
• Web 2.0 support and preferably libraries built in
• Strong naming conventions and smart English recognition
• Robustness (ability to handle large volumes of traffic and data)
• Rapid development features (scaffolding etc.)
• A great IDE (preferably Eclipse)
• Others

The results so far show that two options are neck and neck for users - the correct/strong seperation of data and the framework's robustness for dealing with the loads. Pulling in close behind them is the need for rapid development, making it quick and easy to use.