PHP, Zend Framework, Wordpress, need to find some clarity - php

Question

First off, I'm new to web development. I am fairly comfortable with HTML/CSS, and I am building my first site for a friend's business. I want to include a contact form, so I downloaded one from CodeCanyon. It is perfectly fine, but I'm in this to learn how to do this, so I scrapped the downloaded form and set out to learn some PHP. (I realize that later on, from a profitability standpoint, it may be a wiser decision to use these types of plugins rather than doing it all myself; would love opinions on this as well).
I learnt how to write a simple e-mail contact form from some tutorials online, but quickly found there's much more to it when you get into address validation, and preventing spammers from hijacking your form, etc. Should I continue to try to learn how to do the whole thing myself? If so, What is the best resource available?
I noticed people saying great things about Zend framework. Can someone explain what it is in simple terms?
Also, I haven't used Wordpress yet, but it seems the best use of this (aside from using it to create quick websites on the cheap) is as a CMS so your clients can update their content later. Does Zend framework also have some kind of CMS element to it?
I know this is kind of a complicated series of questions, but I'm trying to get some clarity. To those of you who have been at this a while, all the different products, languages, acronyms, etc. may seem like a piece of cake, but to a newbie like me, its hard to figure it all out without some kind of sounding board.

Answer 1

Kind of an open question but:
Zend Framework is a set of libraries that help you create php applications. They have a set of predefined classes that simplify tasks like Access Control List (User Login and such) or access Google APIs (like calendar and email). To take advantage of those libraries you need to interact with them in the programing level. (that is, you need to know how to program in PHP and how to access those classes). Here's an example:
require_once('Loader/autoloader.php');
$acl = new Zend_Acl();
$acl->add(new Zend_Acl_Resource('view'));
$acl->add(new Zend_Acl_Resource('edit'));
$acl->allow('guest', null, 'view');
$acl->allow('editor', array('view', 'edit'));
This creates a User Role named guest and editor, and gives permissions accordingly.
Wordpress is a CMS (like joomla and Drupal, for instance). You don't need any PHP knowledge to create a site with these tools and you interact with the modules in the admin level. You can actually integrate Zend Framework (or any other framework) with those CMS, but then again you need not only knowledge in PHP but also in the framework itself and in the structure of the CMS.
To summarize, PHP is powerful yet relatively easy programming language. Should you decide to learn it, you should start by doing some basic tutorials like this one to familiarize yourself with the language. The learning curve might be a little steep but it pays off. Once you feel you can do most tasks, you can try to work with a framework (ZEND or SYMFONY, for instance)
If your only objective is just to build sites easily and quickly, you should use a CMS.