Outline

Outline is a template engine for php.

Development is temporarily on hold, probably until fall'08, as my family is immigrating to the US - a huge undertaking that currently takes up all of my time...

A development snapshot for testing, evaluation and discussion is currently available - usage on production sites is not recommended at this point, and the API may still require minor changes.

click the "Source" tab above for instructions on how to check out a copy.

Unlike other template engines, Outline is fast and light by design - rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, this engine tries to leverage the power of the template engine you already know: php.

According to the Tunable Template Benchmark by Ilia Kantor, Outline is the fastest native php template engine. (please note that this is a very simple benchmark that basically only tests variable replacement.)

Project Goals

Outline implements a practical, familiar template syntax, in about 1000 lines of code, giving you close to all of the functionality found in major template engines such as Smarty, Template Lite or Savant - all of the usual stuff like commands, blocks, modifiers, compiled templates, multi-level caching and so on.

Key differences from other engines

The major difference between Outline and most of the major template engines, is that it makes no attempts to implement template security, and it does not validate the parts of the syntax that it borrows from php. This makes it primarily a template engine for use by php developers and trusted template developers - you can't safely allow guests to write or upload custom templates.

Apart from that, many commands have a considerably shorter syntax than any of the major template engines - and a syntax that is more familiar to php developers. Outline takes the practical, simple parts of php, simplifies their syntax, and combines it with the most common template syntax elements from large engines.

Documentation

- About Outline

- How to use the engine

- Template Syntax

- Caching