Re: template engine...why???

At 22:01 30.04.2003, Robert Cummings said: --------------------[snip]-------------------- >> Not to keep beating this discussion, but I'm at a loss for understanding >> this argument. If your designers are using CSS-compliant designs, even if >> they're using a table or two for layouts, PHP still makes templating easy. >> What's to keep them from doing: >> >> <div id="header"><? heading(); ?></div> >> >> <div id="content"> >> <? menu(); ?> >> <? leadArticle(); ?> >> <? oldArticles(); ?> >> </div> >> >> <div id="footer"><? footer(); ?></div> >> >>------------ > >Hmmm that's awfully blocky looking, a real flattening out of the principle >of a template. Now let me see, my designers think that the output from menu() >sucks, or the output from leadArticle() sucks, ... Are you to tell me your >developers are doing the design of the HTML within the included templates >and functions? Gee what a waste of their talents. At some point your solution >ALWAYS breaks down to a coder putting html into functions for the designers >to use. This is somewhat true of templates, but the re-usability of your >method versus the template method is questionable. --------------------[snip]-------------------- To add to this overwhelming topic, it's also a matter of security, IMHO. We are using our templating engine to let users (i.e. customers) design and modify the look and feel of their pages, or elements, that are part of intranet or extranet applications (not only CMS). Third party designers are always part of this process. For nothing in the world I'd like to have JowBlow fuzzing around with PHP within our applications. If a customer needs webspace bundled with PHP, so be it, but he gets it running in safe mode, outside our partly mission-critical apps. The applications are hands-off for the customers. I feel much better having our templaing engine using those tags they need to have, for we are in control of what may possibly happen on the server, and what can't be done. -- >O Ernest E. Vogelsinger (\) ICQ #13394035 ^ http://www.vogelsinger.at/