Re: Smarty vs PEAR::HTML_Template_IT

<jeroen@terena.nl> wrote : > Hi all, > > What is the main difference bewteen Smarty and PEAR::HTML_Template_IT ? > Has anyone switched from one to the other and if so, why? Hi Jeroen, HTML_Template_IT is much easier to use and for your designers to work with. On the other hands, it lacks a lot of features found in Smarty such as modifiers, control structures and caching. In Smarty, you can put a lot of logic inside your templates, this will make your PHP scripts much shorter in many cases but will make your templates more complex. Personally, I prefer to have the logic inside my PHP scripts and use templates only for display operations. That's why I use HTML_Template_IT 90% of the time, along with Cache_Lite. HTML_Template_IT is also faster AFAIK than Smarty but I didn't do any benchmarks. Look at http://www.phpinsider.com/benchmarks/ for benchmarks. I suppose the choice is based on your philosophy. I like the Model-View-Controller design pattern and I think HTML_Template_IT conforms to it better. On the other hand, Smarty is a really well written and powerful piece of software and will take you further if you need more power and flexibility in your templates. Its learning curve is steeper though. I also find HTML_Template_IT templates easier to maintain. Bertrand Mansion Mamasam