Despite regularly visiting The Monastery in the past, especially when the Great God Google has pointed me this way, in the last week since I created an account I have learnt a great deal...one such thing is the existence of frameworks for building websites. Until yesterday this was something that sat on the 'one day' pile - but now I have to build a new website so I am seeking help in deciding whether to use a framework or whether to do it in a similar way to I've previously done it but with use strict; firmly in every script!

My partner has been dabbling with artwork for some months and wants somewhere to showcase her work and to be able to take commissions and make sales of prints.

Here is an example if you are interested

So...the website will only be maintained by me thus ensuring that others can maintain the code is not a consideration. Functionally it is not too complex with a few database tables and a very basic CMS so Joolz (my partner) can upload images of artwork and change their descriptions, etc. There will be some image manipulation (probably using GD::Image) to resize thumbnails so they cannot be usefully copied and to add a watermark to larger images but that would be the same however the rest of the site is implememnted (wouldn't it?)

Previous websites I have created have a standard library I have written to deal with form processing, image uploads, logging etc. They then have site specific subroutines for the boilerplate code common to multiple pages and to deal with database connections. All of this standard code is in *.pl files that are brought in with a require statement.

I would love your input of whether it would be beneficial to go through the (steep?) learning curve of implementing this new site with a framework or whether it would be preferable to use the boilerplate methodology that I am used to albeit using *.pm modules for the common parts and bringing them in with a use statement. I feel that I do not know enough about the advantages and potential pitfalls of adopting a framework to be able to make a decision.

I'm not asking for you to try and make a decision for me...but please...give me some pointers and shine a light into the dark corners where frameworks and other design considerations tend to lurk.