Pretty Pleased with the SWFAddress Apache, mod_rewrite, and PHP SEO Implementation
The latest project I've been working on at Rokkan has been umbro.com. When the project first came to us there was quite a bit of discussion over what technology to use, specifically HTML vs. Flash. The client, naturally, was concerned about SEO but also wanted a nice "rich" experience. Sure, there's been a little bit of talk lately over the fact that Google can now index certain types of content with regards to SWF files and the files which they load, but its still sketchy at best. Not to mention you have to pay close attention to how you setup your text fields 'n such. Hell, when is the last time you searched on Google for something significant and got a result that takes you to a specific page of a Flash site/app? I honestly can't think of that every happening to me.
Everybody Likes CakePHP
So a few years ago I used to have to write PHP for a few projects I worked on at my old job. I wasn't very good at it and it was all procedural. Often it included some generated code from Dreamweaver, yuck. For the past year and a half I haven't written a single line of server side code. Being able to say that is sort of nice in some respect, but at the same time I wish I was able to write object oriented PHP to supplement some personal projects. Whats a Flash guy to do? Perhaps learn to use CakePHP! From the CakePHP website:
Cake is a rapid development framework for PHP which uses commonly known design patterns like ActiveRecord, Association Data Mapping, Front Controller and MVC. Our primary goal is to provide a structured framework that enables PHP users at all levels to rapidly develop robust web applications, without any loss to flexibility.
My coworker recently used CakePHP for the entire backend of a Flash project which we worked on together. It handles the data, the form handling and even the remoting. The remoting is handled with a version of AMFPHP. Their community is very Flash friendly and even have a flash remoting example on the website. My coworker also lurks their IRC channel for help from time to time and he said its been very helpful.