[UPHPU] Template engines

[cole at colejoplin.com]

Hi,

Although I'm primarily a programmer, I enjoy doing both vector and  
raster art. I've worked with many graphic artists, and my experience  
is that they want to do what they do best: design/art. And they want  
to avoid what is not fun for them: programming.

Without a programmer, it's likely you'd find use of something like  
Illustrator or Photoshop, which can make templates for GoLive. No  
programming required, no HTML, they're just using extended web  
features of the tools they know. Asking them to start using a new  
tool, especially with syntax, is just not fun anymore.

Where it gets REALLY sticky is when you start throwing in databases  
and CSS.  Because you're asking someone to switch from right brain  
dominance to left brain dominance. That's why some people can't move  
from table layouts to CSS, and some CSS people have boring looking  
pages.

So when I hear the word "template", my opinion of it depends on  
context. "Passive" templates, as a transitional object from artist to  
programmer, I think are best, obviously. But when it comes to "active"  
templates, where ALL code is just generated by some tool, it screams  
compromise and limitation. Sure, any monkey can do it, but they are  
doing it in a cage of fixed scope. What a shame.

But that's exactly what a template engine is, and if you don't have  
the people, well, you do what you can do. I like the idea that artists  
have no creative bounds, and programmers have the technical  
flexibility to make any vision a reality. I'm lucky to work at a place  
that has people of both skill sets, and we work together. We spend our  
time talking about what we can do, not what we can't do. And that is  
fun for everyone.

-- Cole





Quoting Walt Haas <haas at xmission.com>:

> Hello All,
>
> I'd be interested to hear from any graphic artists out there what they
> see as the pros and cons of template engines in general, and Smarty in
> particular.  Are these templates easier for an artist to work with
> than the equivalent PHP code?
>
> I already know the engineering pros and cons, so don't need comments
> about that aspect of it.
>
> Thanks in advance  -- Walt
> -------
> Walt Haas          The Website Doctor - Cures Sick Websites
> (801) 534-1262     http://thewebsitedoctor.net
>
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