would it be faster to implement php code into html, or to use only php? See more details...

Question

Im currently using PHP to fetch results from a mysql db.

Im also displaying the results by building a table and all with PHP also.

My question is, would it improve loading speed if I would just call the php variables from a HTML document (PHP + HTML).

Or maybe it doesn't matter, and I should go with the ONLY PHP solution that I already have?

Thanks

Answer 1

Catch 22. Merging large blocks PHP and HTML code together could make it faster but severely decreases the readability and thus maintainability. Personally, I would keep them as separate as possible.

Answer 2

Usually template rendering is not the performance bottleneck of web applications and I would definitely prefer readability over speed here. Some common areas where small changes can improve performance significantly are:

• frontend performance optimization
• Database interaction (look into modelling improvements, indexes, denormalization)
• avoidance of unnecessary repeated concatenation of strings

Answer 3

I always embed my PHP code within HTML. O'Reilly has a great piece on doing this, http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/php/2001/05/03/php%5Ffoundations.html?page=2

Answer 4

Regardless of performance (whether you embed html directly in your php or not, should not matter, much), I suggest, that you learn to use a template engine (such as Smarty) as soon as possible.

Because I've just followed a link posted in one of the answers here and it reminded me how hideous it can be when logic and presentation are entangled in one big, ugly, incomprehensible mess.

I mean, come on. Forget about echo already.