Which template engine do you use..?

[eluser]DerekF[/eluser]

I see your point (though I wouldn’t even bother with curly braces), but then you’re not really formatting your PHP in a template manner.

The reason I included the curly quotes is because my text editor allows me to select related code blocks by double-clicking the curly braces. (This is also why I don't use alternate PHP syntax; my editor doesn't give me the same functionality when that syntax is used.) I guess the reason for my preference becomes apparent. ;-)

Templating engines are definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution since everyone has different requirements. If the goal is to prevent designers from screwing up or otherwise injecting arbitrary PHP code into templates, then something like Smarty (with its alternate, non-PHP syntax and protective features) makes sense. However, unless that's an absolute requirement (and I can understand why it may be), I've always been of the opinion that templating is best left to PHP or a "thin" templating engine like phpSavant. Although it requires the non-PHP-savvy designer to learn some basics of PHP (echo, loops and conditionals -- something the designer will have to learn anyway, regardless of whether you use a template engine or plain PHP), at least the language is already well-documented and with PHP being standardized (i.e., learning PHP as opposed to a proprietary templating language), it can benefit the designer more in the long run. Along the same lines, improving the readability of PHP code in your views/templates can go a long way to helping non-PHP people understand how things work.