How to get rid of the excess in Yii 2.0 and start from scratch?

Question

Yii

Good day, dear developers.
I dealt with yii 1.1+, but I never started my projects from 0,
usually a site came to me where everything was already divided into categories (framework, protected, etc.)
Sooner or later, I would have to cross this threshold and start to study this framework in more depth, as my soul lies with it.
However, after I downloaded the finished release (archive & composer versions), my eyes widened. (I tried basic and advanced, I didn’t understand the essence of their difference, perhaps to the extent of my inexperience)
Everything is mixed up in porridge and in many directories there are a bunch of files unknown to me.
Question:
1. Which option is better to use basic or advanced?
2. What files and folders can be safely deleted and I won't need them in the future?
3. How to separate the framework from the rest, with the possibility of further updating yii?
4. As a beginner, what articles should I read besides guide 2.0?
I had big ambitions, but after I saw this mess, they disappeared like a trace. Please help me figure it out and put things in order in the project and in my head.
Sincerely, Adventurer.

Answer 1

How to get rid of the excess in Yii 2.0 and start from scratch?

Seriously though, no one starts from scratch. https://github.com/yiisoft/yii2-app-basic - take it as a basis, at least the 3rd point has already been resolved there. Dependencies are all resolved through composer.
Next...
1) it's up to you. In general, the salt of these templates is to show how you can arrange the structure of the project, how exactly to use it is up to you. You can generally freak out and make your own, with merrymaking and harlots.
2) How do you know? Sooner or later you will need at least something...
3) composer
4) PHP documentation, various literature on OOP, etc. You should not think that using a mediocre framework will allow you to fill in the gaps in the knowledge of the basics, especially since one of the main thoughts that Yii carries is "write whatever you want, we don't care."

Answer 2

For example, like this: https://github.com/samdark/yii2-minimal. No testing, bootstrap, assets, etc.