I am coming up with a web application which will be primarily based on PHP. I would like to know some of the best practices and technologies that I can make use of to come out with the app as fast as possible. My team will be working remotely, so I want to know the best ways of collaborating through web resources too. I'm expecting in here, the options or a framework of technologies that can get me a great app in a shorter time. I've given a small example out here. Please extend my plan and give me suggestions...
I want more to be added to this list so that I code less and reuse more. Please help me out.
Reusability is the key factor. How do I leverage already available classes, frameworks, etc in an efficient way? I want to know my options.
Try to find a framework that suit your needs. If you want reusability, make sure you learn/understand the concept of the MVC pattern (OOP). I personally work with Zend-Framework which has a very big community.
(However, a good practice is building your own framework. Look at other frameworks and learn about the pro's and cons.)
Every project starts with an UML design: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language
Don't try to invent the wheel again, for example: learn/play with the 960 css grid http://960.gs, jQuery and different database-types.
Documentate everything!
Test everything http://simpletest.org
use subversion for easy access of previous versions of your project http://subversion.net
Good luck!!