Smarty Forum Index Smarty
WARNING: All discussion is moving to https://reddit.com/r/smarty, please go there! This forum will be closing soon.

Testimony from M Bueche (March 23, 2003)

 
This forum is locked: you cannot post, reply to, or edit topics.   This topic is locked: you cannot edit posts or make replies.    Smarty Forum Index -> Testimonials
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
mohrt
Administrator


Joined: 16 Apr 2003
Posts: 7368
Location: Lincoln Nebraska, USA

PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 4:32 pm    Post subject: Testimony from M Bueche (March 23, 2003) Reply with quote

First it needs to be said, Smarty does not work for all aplications. It makes
no sense to add another layer of logic to our system. However, I am currently
working on a very large PHP project that involves many different applications
integrated into a web portal. And let me says this:

I started the project out using simple templating like includes, functions to
generate Style sheets, etc. and it worked fine. However, I found myself in this
predicament. My scripts were getting very long, 7-8K lines and it was becomming
more and more difficult to debug my applications because so much presentation
logic was embedded into my business logic. (for example print statements,
formatting of strings with HTML, et.)

I decided to try the Smarty system and I can honestly say, after a bunch of
scrating my head and getting frustrated, it was the BEST move that we ever
made. Now, I removed all of my presentation logic out of the business logic,
less rabit trails with all the includes and html output functions. (I mean
really, ask yourself, how many functions/classes have you written just to wrap
your data in HTML. Well, smarty has already written all of those functions and
given you so much flexability. Now, my business logic scripts are 2-3K and then
all the HTML is separated out into template files. Now, if the designer wants
to play with the UI, he just plays with the templates and my business logic is
unaffected.

Also, I think that you are all forgetting that while yes, smarty adds another
layer of complexity, it makes up for that with comiling and caching. Let's say
that you run a site that has a news column, or a BBS and the data may only
change a few times daily, but you have tens, hundreds, or even thousands of
users visiting your site. With caching anc compiling, you scripts do not have
to be interpreted every time a user visits your site, only when there are
changes. This takes load off of your DB server, web server, etc. It is the
equivalent of writing out HTML files and then serving those up to your users.
VERY COOL, I personally have notice a HUGE increase in speed on our site (2-3K
user visits per day).

So, I'll wrap back to my original point, can you do what smarty does using your
own PHP templating system? Of course, but why, the smarty team has already done
the work for you and added the cool features like comiling anc caching. Not
only that, remember, smarty is written 100% in PHP, so it is not like another
loanguage, it just like using a library of classes/functions.

Embrace it for medium to large sites, it may no be worth the effort for some of
you on your small projects, but I can say that I have been converted and I will
use it on every project.

Lastly, let me also leave you with another example of how smarty has made my
like 10X easier. I was contracted to design a content management system for a
local company with the caviat that the company wanted to custom design the UI
for every customer. Meaning the engine of the CMS would not change only the
templates. With smarty all I had to do was write the engine in PHP and then all
the deigners had to do was come up with the new templates. Then for each
customer, there was 1 universal engine, one that I would keep up to date and
free of bugs. AWESOME.

Hope this helps ...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
This forum is locked: you cannot post, reply to, or edit topics.   This topic is locked: you cannot edit posts or make replies.    Smarty Forum Index -> Testimonials All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
Protected by Anti-Spam ACP