CodeIgniter: what makes a good model

A good tip would be, not letting model an view talk with each other straight, you always(or when it's possible) have to use controller to do this kind of communication.

I've heard also the opinion that it's a bad practice to have logic inside your models...I don't know if this is true but it's a rule I have broken lots of times(if somebody knows more about the subject please correct me).

And of course always have in mind that model should be reusable , so I try to give general solution to some problems and not application specific...on the other hand controller seems to be the throwaway component so this is where you should do ugly stuff that will never be used in other projects...

Hope it helps a little

I think 'a lot easier' comes in when you are working with large sets of data, and have many complex queries to make. As I understand it, if you are working on something that is relatively simple, you can forego the model and make your db calls from within the controller. There isn't a 'best practice' per se, but rather personal preference.

The MVC architecture allows for better compartmentalizing of code, and can allow for better structure and re-use of code, but you needn't follow the MVC idea to the letter to accomplish many things -- again it comes down to preference.

The point is to abstract all of your application logic into Models and use Controllers simply for 'controlling' your web interface and mediating between the web interface and the models.

The models are your program proper you should be able to pretty easily completely redesign the user interface without affecting the application models.