Best Templating System or Method?

want to hear opinions on template web development methods

[Parlays]

Hello everyone,

I currently use Dreamweaver templates because they are simple and they allow me to see my changes on the fly in Dreamweaver when I am editing a website's HMTL and CSS.

I want to use the PHP templating system Smarty but does anyone know if there is a WYSIWYG editor that will let me see the templates on the fly so I can edit the HTML and see the changes in the editor?

What in your opinion is the best templating system to use when creating a website? Thanks!

[eelixduppy]

>> Know if there is a WYSIWYG editor

Not that I know of.

>> What in your opinion is the best templating system to use when creating a website?

It really depends on the application and the developer. There are many different types of templating systems out there, using Smarty [smarty.php.net] is just one of them. For simple applications I just include the header, content, and footer and it works just as well as any other system, plus it's simple enough.

If you still want to look into Smarty, read the following:
Is Smarty Right for Me? [smarty.net]
Why Use Smarty [smarty.net]

[jezra]

There is an extension for Dreamweaver that will allow you to edit smarty templates. A web search for "smarty template dreamweaver extension" should get you started on the right path.

What in your opinion is the best templating system to use when creating a website?

From a developers standpoint, I would say the best templating system is the one that I develop myself because I will know exactly how the template system works. However, since I don't really want to reinvent the wheel, I would say that the best templating system is the one that meets all of my needs with the least amount of overhead.

[WesleyC]

PHP almost -is- a templating engine; it's designed for simple output of variables (especially with short_tags enabled).

For instance...

<h1><?= $title ?></h1>

...will echo the contents of the variable "title" between <h1> and </h1>.

There's really not too much of a need for a templating engine, especially if you use frameworks such as CodeIgniter.