I was trying this out earlier today and I was amazed in how easy I adapted to this class. The class can be really simple or it can become complex (by adding “function combos”, mix of php-like operators/statements, and custom html functionalities). The simplistic view of SMARTY is the fact that if there were two people (1 php programmer and 1 web designer), the php programmer would never have to touch HTML/CSS and the web designer would never see the “coding” side of the site. SMARTY is designed to separate the server side coding with the client side. In addition, SMARTY added two key components to its class, a cache functionality and a debugging console. Take a look at their site and read the first few pages of the documentation. If you are going to code a custom made site in the future (no CMS guidance), use SMARTY to start you off.
http://www.smarty.net/manual/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarty
I’ll definitely be using this in my future sites.