2025 UPDATE

Seeing the high interest from developers who read our blog posts, we decided to create a full series to teach new developers the most important Laravel features. The series "Laravel 11 for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide to Learn the Concepts" is also a great resource for developers from different tech backgrounds who are joining the Laravel community.

The PHP framework transforming web development

Laravel has revolutionized web development by providing a robust, feature-rich framework that simplifies the creation of complex web applications. As a PHP framework following the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern, Laravel offers a full ecosystem of tools designed to tackle modern web development challenges. It goes beyond simplifying development; it enhances it by providing built-in solutions for authentication, routing, caching, and more. With services like Vapor, Forge, Tinker, Mix, Telescope, and Dusk, Laravel has grown into more than just a framework.

Laravel stands out when tackling the complexities of building advanced websites. It addresses critical aspects of development such as structure, security, performance, and database interactions. For those who have experience with PHP, Laravel’s features are nothing short of impressive, often making it a must-have tool for developers.

Learning Laravel with Laracast

Laracasts is an invaluable platform for those looking to master Laravel. It provides a vast collection of video tutorials that illustrate the best practices for utilizing the framework and integrating it with other technologies. These tutorials are designed to help both beginners and experienced developers refine their skills and knowledge. We’ve also tried to offer insights and resources on our blog with various articles about Laravel.

The Laravel community and documentation

One of Laravel’s greatest strengths is its detailed documentation and active community. If you run into problems or want to learn more about the framework, these resources are there to help. By using Laracasts and following Laravel’s guides, developers can improve their code and make the most of the framework’s features.

User authentication with Laravel

Creating a secure login part for your application is key in web development, and Laravel makes this easier with its built-in login services. While you can play around yourself to make a custom authentication, Laravel also has free packages ready to use. These include Laravel Breeze, Laravel Jetstream, and Laravel Fortify, each with different features for different developer needs. These solutions give you a strong and modern start for the login part, helping you start projects fast.

Building a secure authentication layer for your application is key in web development, and Laravel simplifies this process through its built-in authentication services. While you can play around yourself to make a custom authentication, Laravel also has free packages ready to use. These packages include Laravel Breeze, Laravel Jetstream, and Laravel Fortify, each with different features for different developer needs. These solutions give you a strong and modern start for the authentication layer, helping you start projects fast.

For developers starting on the journey of implementing authentication in their Laravel applications, the following options are available:

Laravel Breeze: Ideal for those who prefer a straightforward and minimalistic approach, Laravel Breeze provides the basic authentication features.
Laravel Fortify: Serving as a headless authentication backend, Laravel Fortify delivers a wide range of authentication services.
Laravel Jetstream: A more advanced starter kit, Jetstream builds on Laravel Fortify with a modern user interface and supports API token login with Laravel Sanctum.

Laravel gives developers secure, flexible, and easy-to-use authentication options that fit their web applications’ specific needs.

Advanced email services and database management

Laravel simplifies working with email services like Mailgun, Mandrill, SparkPost, Amazon SES, and SendMail, making it easy to send notifications and manage communication. Additionally, Laravel’s Eloquent ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) system simplifies database interactions, allowing developers to switch between databases like MySQL and SQLite effortlessly. Eloquent also handles complex database relationships with ease, making it a powerful tool for managing data.

Refactoring your Laravel codebase with collections

Laravel Collections are a nice and strong way to work with arrays, making coding better for developers. Collections use PHP array functions, add new ones, and provide a smooth way for array operations. They don’t change the original array, so your code is clearer and easier to keep up with, without the usual array problems.

It’s important to use Laravel Collections to improve code readability and efficiency. For example, creating a collection from an array is as simple as using the collect() helper or the Collection::make() static method for an object-oriented approach. Collections also support iteration with foreach loops and their own each() method, providing a more Laravel-centric way of processing items. Additionally, Collections simplify the handling of numbers, such as sum(), average(), min(), and max(), allowing developers to perform mathematical operations with ease. With these tips, Laravel developers can write more clear, readable, and maintainable code.

Conclusion

Laravel’s extensive features, user-friendly approach, and robust ecosystem make it a top choice for web developers. Whether you’re building a personal blog or a complex web application, Laravel provides the tools and flexibility to create secure, effective, and user-friendly websites. Its integration with other technologies and its strong community support ensure that developers can build modern web applications with ease.

This article is part of our ongoing series, "Which technologies do we use and why?", where we explain the technologies that we use on a daily basis and the reasons behind our choices.

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