Do I need to use a web framework for a simple website?

The site won't be that complicated and will resemble a modern blog (users, messages, news and other similar features).开发者_高级运维

Do I need to use a framework for this, and if so, which is best?

Pyramid, Django?

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You certainly don't need a webframework to create a simple website. Given that you're new to python and interested in building a python website, I imagine this implies: you're interested in learning python. If you're exclusively interested in learning django-python, there's no reason you can't jump in to django, as Ronak said, of course. He's right. It has a lot of documentation. But it will make for somewhat of an odd intro to python.

If I were in your shoes, I'd either start making some offline programs first, or consider an ultra-lightweight framework. Many would advocate web2py or pyramid for ultralightweight. I might consider going even lighter. Something like Bottle, where you're more or less just pairing functions with urls. This way you can at least do a bit of hacking/trial-and-error, instead of launching right into django.

It's not that django doesn't use python-- it will tell you many times that it is in fact 'just python.' But it's adapted at its core to be used in a large business setting (the chicago something or other online, i think). So it enforces various rules that are helpful in managing many different employees working on a project together. You may or may not wish for this kind of 'help.' It also means the scale of projects is assumed to be large and the time-horizon, limitless. If you want to see how a python dictionary works, you may not want to spend a long time configuring settings and creating the pseudo-static-typing you need for your database, and so on, just to execute your project and see a result.

I realize I will automatically get downvoted for this, but I believe it to be sound advice.

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It depends on what kind of website you are planning to come up with. If the website is going to be just a set of static HTML files, then you don't really need a framework. But if your website will have lots of dynamic content that will get updated on regular basis, you should go with some framework. That will make your life maintaining the website much more simpler.

Django is the most popular framework written in Python. It has very good documentation and a strong community base too.

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Go with Django - 10,000 Elvis fans can't be wrong.

Or roll your own from scratch. You'll learn a lot, know everything about how you site works, and better appreciate what a framework does for you.

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As RonakG first pointed, it all depends on the kind of website you intend to have up and running. Actually, your question is too general for a single, definitive answer. There are more aspects to consider other than just being in python. For example, deadlines. This means considering the learning curve to achieve your results. If you don't have much time, a steep learning curve (time to learn it in order to develop it) is certainly something you will want to avoid. Perhaps you already develop in other languages, and need integration and/or migration support, need scalability, reusability, etc, etc, etc.

Another thing that is not so clear in your question is what you mean by "The site won't be that complicated and will resemble a modern blog (users, messages, news and other similar features)". If it really resembles just a modern blog, with users, messages and news, you could google for CMS (Content Management Systems). There are many options available, that could make you have your site up and running in almost no-time. All you'll have to learn is how to customize whatever it has to as to comply to your needs.

That said, if you prefer python, there are some good CMSs available which you can develop your site fast, like Plone. And if you prefer Django, there's Django CMS and there's the excellent Pinax project, which takes the django code reusability to deliver you sample fully customizable, complete websites.