The best way to compare web frameworks IMHO is to implement a (not so) simple CRUD application.

In addition to simple webframeworks i would like to see how google mashup would perform on how easy it is to do something (almost) useful

1. Which Webframeworks ?

see WebappFrameworkComparison for a few frameworks i already started to evaluate.

• Django: http://www.djangoproject.com/ (Python)
• Catalyst http://www.catalystframework.org/ (Perl)
• Struts2 + Hibernate (Java)
• Ruby on Rails (Ruby)
• Gentics Portal.Node
• Google Mashups (probably not really doable ?)
• Other interesting/popular frameworks
  • Mason http://www.masonhq.com/ (Perl)
  • Grails http://grails.codehaus.org/ (Groovy)
  • Shale http://shale.apache.org/ (Java)
  • Zope http://www.zope.org/ (Python)
  • TurboGears http://turbogears.org/ (Python)
  • Rife http://rifers.org/ (Java)
  • Spring MVC + Hibernate http://www.springframework.org/ (Java)

WebappFrameworkComparison/JavaFrameworks

2. What CRUD application ?

So - what will our simple but useful CRUD application look like ? My proposal:

• Manage a list of bars with the following attributes
  • Name
  • Location
  • Beers (n:m relation to another model)
  • Wifi (yes/no/paid)
• List should be editable by every logged in user - viewable by everone
  • No workflow required. everything which is entered by the user is trusted.
• Users should be able to comment on bars and rate them EDIT: NO RATING

Let's call it BarCrud ;) (what a stupid name.. whatever)

2.1. Requirements

• Views
  • List of bars (Sortable by name, rating)
  • View details of a bar + List of comments
  • Create a comment (might be integrated int the list of comments above)
  • Edit details of a bar (only for loggedin users - might be merged with the view details)
• Models (core models, without authentication, session & co)
  • Bar
    • name
    • location
    • wifi (yes, no, paid)
    • creationdate
    • editdate
    • lasteditor
    • n:m relation to beer (available beers)
  • Beer
    • name
  • Comment
    • Reference to the user
    • Rating (e.g. 1-5) EDIT: NO RATING !
    • comment text

2.2. Not to have

There shouldn't be any attached images, fanzy modification history, workflows, etc. involved. Just the information listed above.

3. Comparing the frameworks

• How easy was the framework to learn ?
• How easy was the setup ?
• How easy is the deployment of new versions ?
• How extend able is the result ? (e.g. Imagine i would like to add a workflow where changes get online once an administrator approves them)
• How much duplication was necessary ? (e.g. need to describe the models in the database as well as in code or xml ? / need to describe attributes of models in models and views ?, etc.)
• How much useless code (code which is the same for every application, view, model, ...) was required
• URLs
  • How does the mapping of URLs work ?
  • How can you link within templates to other actions/views/... ?

4. Interesting links

• http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thread_id=32723