# Bringing Savant into the fold


By Ben Ramsey

Published on June 10, 2004


One of the biggest discussions on the pear-dev mailing list right now is that of the [HTML::Template_Savant proposal](http://pear.php.net/pepr/pepr-proposal-show.php?id=83).  Lots of people like it, others still want to do away with template engines in <abbr title="PHP Extension and Application Repository">PEAR</abbr> altogether.  I won't go into all the details about what [Savant](https://web.archive.org/web/20040611071220/http://phpsavant.com/) is (you can figure that out for yourself), but I will say that this discussion is reshaping the way we think of HTML templating engines in PEAR---for the better, IMO.

For example, in the [_Play nice!_ thread](http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.php.pear.devel/25289) on the pear-dev mailing list, the idea was suggested (by [Greg Beaver](http://pear.php.net/user/cellog)) that PEAR use this opportunity of discussion and voting to create a "common template interface to some existing template engines."  What a great idea!  Later on in the thread, Greg goes on to [describe how the Template classes could be split up to allow for multiple types of engines under one unifying structure](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.php.pear.devel/25359).

I think that PEAR is moving in the right direction with this discussion, and I'm looking forward to seeing the changes ahead.