Deciding what template system to use when designing and developing a website can be difficult. For beginners and the lazy, Dreamweaver’s DWT files are fine but they are difficult and clumsy to maintain and update. Besides, they are messy.

Being a logical and rational person, I want to separate content from layout and with a preference for PHP I decided it was time to build a simple template system.

A few weeks later and after using it to drive a couple of my websites, here’s what Pretty Smarties has to offer:

• Uses Smarty template engine  – Easy to learn (That is, if you don’t already know it)
• Pretty URLs – Great for search engines and humans ( http://www.site.com/urls/like/this )
• SEO Optimisation – Reduced duplication by redirecting to correct host, and applying consistent “/” suffix.
• Easy to implement optional page components – Simply add or remove files to add or remove components
• Template updates are instantly applied
• Swap template by changing 1 line

Source and documentation will be posted on the logon2 blog this week.