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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/todo/replace_HTML::Template_with_Template_Toolkit.mdwn | 49 |
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diff --git a/doc/todo/replace_HTML::Template_with_Template_Toolkit.mdwn b/doc/todo/replace_HTML::Template_with_Template_Toolkit.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 000000000..19f138fee --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/todo/replace_HTML::Template_with_Template_Toolkit.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +HTML::Template is an okay templating kit, but it lacks a lot of powerful +features and thus makes it rather hard to give an ikiwiki site a consistent +look. If you browse the templates provided in the tarball, you'll notice that +more than one of them contain the `<html>` tag, which is unnecessary. + +Maybe it's just me, I also find HTML::Template cumbersome to use, due in part +to its use of capital letters. + +Finally, the software seems unmaintained: the mailing list and searchable +archives linked from +<http://html-template.sourceforge.net/html_template.html#frequently%20asked%20questions> +are broken and the author has not replied to my query in months. + +I would love to see ikiwiki use the [Template +Toolkit](http://template-toolkit.org/) as templating engine. + +One major reason for TT is its use of slots, a concept I first encountered +with Zope Page Templates and never wanted to miss it again. Let me quickly +illustrate, using the HTML::Template syntax for simplicity. Traditionally, +templating is done with includes: + + Page A Page B + <TMPL_INCLUDE header> <TMPL_INCLUDE header> + this is page A this is page B + <TMPL_INCLUDE footer> <TMPL_INCLUDE footer> + +This involves four pages, and if you mistype "footer" on page B, +it'll be broken in potentially subtle ways. + +Now look at the approach with slots: + + MainTemplate + This is the header + <TMPL_SLOT content> + This is the footer + + Page A Page B + <TMPL_USE MainTemplate> <TMPL_USE MainTemplate> + <TMPL_FILL content> <TMPL_FILL content> + This is page A This is page B + </TMPL_FILL> </TMPL_FILL> + </TMPL_USE> </TMPL_USE> + +As soon as you think about more structure pages with various slots +to fill, I am sure you can see the appeal of that approach. If not, +here is some more documentation: <http://wiki.zope.org/ZPT/METALSpecification11> + +I would be glad to volunteer time to make this switch happen, such as rewrite +the templates. I'd prefer not having to touch Perl though... |