Re: [PHP Template] template system requirements

On Mon, 10 Apr 2000, Andrei Zmievski wrote: > Truthfully, we did not have a requirements document. I mainly took what > FastTemplate had and expanded on it. The main goals, I guess, were to be > designer friendly but still flexible enough to have template logic. How would those involved in this project define "designer friendly," both on a general level (easy to learn, HTML-like) and in very specific terms (must avoid getting munged by Dreamweaver)? What about "template logic?" What specific requirements does such logic fulfill? What are its bounds? > If someone wants to work with me to come up with requirements document, > it'd be a good project. I may not be reading this statement correctly. Are you saying that the requirements doc should be written in isolation, by the designer and perhaps a collaborator, after the spec has been defined? I do want to make sure I'm interpreting your words as you intend them. > The spec certainly is not good for documentation > either, it's just a reference. One of the reasons I've created this > mailing list is to ask people's opinions on the design of the engine. I understand that the stated intent of this list is to solicit input. However, the discussion began with a spec. It did not begin with a public discussion of high-level goals and concrete requirements for achieving those goals (perhaps using the spec as a guide). As a result, proposals that differred significantly from the original design were dismissed as "too complex" or "not powerful enough" without a solid definition of the target middle ground. And those who argued vehemently against adding conditionals could not be pointed to the well-defined set of requirements that informed this decision. These are things that genuinely concern and interest me, and are why I inquired about a requirements doc. michael