Just as modern websites use different files for page structure (HTML),behavior (JavaScript) and presentation (CSS),template engines enable application logic (PHP) to also remain separate (a template "layer"). PHP files "parse" their corresponding HTML template and special tags are individually replaced with content defined by the PHP code. You can therefore allow designers with no knowledge of PHP to modify page structure, and optionally limit access to application logic. Code separation also results in improved code readability. Once you start using a template engine you won't look back!
We developed PHPTemplateLayer with the wide-ranging features and fast performance required for hundreds of our own websites. PHPTemplateLayer is possibly the easiest PHP template engine to install, setup and learn, even with no prior template experience. Since all control of template output remains with the PHP code, template tags are clean and easy, and no new security concerns are introduced. PHPTemplateLayer is 100% free to use and open source, and now even outputs minified HTML.