Some Criteria for Selecting a Python-Based Web Framework

Server/Process Model (Application Server)

• standalone server or CGI popup? CGI, FastCGI, IIS/ASP, SCGI, mod_python?
• single-process, single-thread, event-driven?
• site changes require restart of server?
• supports HTTP/1.1? pipelining? persistent-connection?
• protocols other than HTTP?
• background threads, processes?
• can put limits on subprocesses?
• feature to send email?
• feature to chat?
• feature re file library?
• feature re polls
• feature re reminders, some hook into CRON, periodic functions
• supports Python Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI)?

URL Parsing Model (HTTP Adapter)

• supports REST-like URL processing? access to HTTP methods?
• every Python object in a namespace is potentially web-accessible?
• form validation helpers?

Content Model

• includes a template language? Replaceable? XML-ish? PHP-ish? non-SGML?
• can template language be used to construct email, other content types?
• HTML mixed into Python? Python mixed into HTML? Can do either?
• internationaliztion support? Unicode content?
• supports content streaming?
• an example of the template language
• audience: designers, programmers, users
• content-mgmt features?
• can site be modified thru-the-web? is a shell account required?
• library of web widgets?
• client-side AJAX/LiveEvil support?

Data Persistence Model

• includes SQL database drop-in? Limited to specific database types?
• includes OO database drop-in? Limited to specific database types?
• can be backed up while running?
• any versioning features?
• internal content caching?

Support/Development Model

• year of origin
• date of last update
• version reviewed
• date of review
• qty of docs; support mailing lists? bug tracker?
• run by one person, informal team, corporate?
• license?
• versions of Python supported?
• OS platforms supported?
• security issues; is the code reviewed? CERT?
• crypto support re ssl, server/client certs?
• supports developer method X where X is: pgm/designer team, corp delegation, ...

Developer Tools

• logging of internal steps
• can break into Python interpreter inside server? without disrupting others?
• can dump REQUEST and/or RESPONSE in a meaningful way? To log or browser?

User Model

• includes browser sessions? cookie-based, hidden-form-var, URL-based?
• user identification/authentication subsystem?
• access controls? granularity? URL subtree delegation?

Performance

• somehow...
• scalability
• multi-machine?