[eluser]Derek Allard[/eluser]
If you're comfortable with html, and the sole developer, then yeah, just use html*. But there are times when its super userful, let me give you a personal example. I want to have non-programmers handling views that have forms. I need to dynamically set form values, and maybe css classes, etc. By using a form helper, I can define the array that holds the information with any programming logic I need to in the controller, and pass it in. The view just has
Code:
<?= form_input($field_info);?>
So it stays nice and clean. I can see how this wouldn't be very advantageous in many cases, but if you've got software that say you want people to build themes for, then you'll want to keep the views as minimal as possible.
* But there is a potential technical reason. Use form_open() to declare your opening of forms. Down the road, we're hoping to get even better CSRF protection in there, and a big boost to that will come if you're using the form_open() function, so that tokens can be automatically inserted.