For those of us out here that weren't lucky enough to get to go to OSCON 2002 this year, and feel like there's just something we missed out on - it's because we did. (no, I'm not bitter. really.).
Anyway, one of the larger presentations made in the PHP area this year was from none other than Andrei and his partner in crime, Sterling Hughes. They gave a presentation on Smarty (using Rasmus' presentation system), one of the most widely used PHP templating systems out there. They covered several topics in this presentation, including how the system works, what features it really offers to the "average joe PHP user", and even some of the more advanced features and performance considerations.

Overall, Smarty is a pretty nice system, with the plugins and the compiled templates, it's also one of the fastest around (adding to the speed inherent in PHP already). I would have liked to be there for this one, if for nothing else than to get to really understand how this system works and if it could be of benefit to me (just like everyone else there). If I were you, I'd at least read through this presentation, if for nothing else than to just get a good feel for the Smarty system.

Thanks to PHPEverywhere for the link.