PHP template engine

[eluser]Myles Wakeham[/eluser]
[quote author="WanWizard" date="1276729687"]We standardize on Smarty as well, altough being modular other template engines can be used as well.

Most of our (commercial) customers require code and design separation, and quite a few are familiar with Smarty's syntax. Yes, you pay a little bit in performance, but hardly noticable, even on our high volume sites, compared to other performance factors.[/quote]

Yep, I think this is a key (and often overlooked) factor of choosing a template engine. The abstraction of design from processing often means you need to work with people who specialize in aesthetics. Smarty definitely provides a really good compromise of function vs. form, and is well accepted in the graphics biz for website design work. If developers are also designers, then I guess you have more choices but anyone should keep in mind that this might not always be the case, and better to be prepared to work with designers at some point than be caught looking like you've never worked on a multi-person team project before (at least where team members were not all coders).

We're testing with the RC of Smarty3, and overall see a 20-40% increase in performance.

Most of the other template engines out there are very limited in terms of syntax, limiting what a designer can do with it...

That's interesting. I am still using v2 of Smarty, but its been working well for me. I'd definitely be up for some performance increase though.

Myles

[eluser]GlennJ[/eluser]
Having read about Smarty v3 and the fact it's been 100% rewritten in PHP5 OO etc etc that sounds like the one to go for.

I know PyroCMS uses Dwoo, but it looks like it's run by one bloke and I think I like the support which the Smarty community provides.

[eluser]Myles Wakeham[/eluser]
[quote author="GlennJ" date="1276736807"]I know PyroCMS uses Dwoo, but it looks like it's run by one bloke and I think I like the support which the Smarty community provides.[/quote]

I'm sure there are a lot of users of it, so I wouldn't be as cautious about support (its open source after all, so you can get in there yourself and contribute too). Phil's code rocks by the way, so that would be the least of my concerns.

But here's a possible scenario, playing out in the future.... Picture this: Big corporation office building. You get a call that they want you to come in to bid on a project for there new Widget division and need a kick-ass web developer. You walk into the boardroom and there's a few suit & tie managers, and a scruffy graphics guy there. They explain the project, and the graphics guy leans over and says, "So what templating engine do you use?".

You answer 'Smarty' and he nods - he knows and is comfortable with that technology.

or

You answer 'Dwoo' and then he points to the door and watches your butt leave through it.

Its not that its not a better solution. But its about perception and demonstrating a willingness to work with the graphics community. Sometimes its not the best technology that wins out in the end.

Myles

[eluser]GlennJ[/eluser]
Oh yeah, I certainly wasn't dissing PyroCMS - I too think it rocks, and I've played with the Dwoo implementation also.

What you say though is important, the project this is for will most definitely be used by front-end designers and we will need buy-in from them.

So at the moment it is very much a 2 horse race! To Dwoo or not to Dwoo, that is the question...