Difference between if () { } and if () : endif;

Question

They are the same but the second one is great if you have MVC in your code and don't want to have a lot of echos in your code. For example, in my .phtml files (Zend Framework) I will write something like this:

<?php if($this->value): ?>
Hello
<?php elseif($this->asd): ?>
Your name is: <?= $this->name ?>
<?php else: ?>
You don't have a name.
<?php endif; ?>

I personally really hate the alternate syntax. One nice thing about the braces is that most IDEs, vim, etc all have bracket highlighting. In my text editor I can double click a brace and it will highlight the whole chunk so I can see where it ends and begins very easily.

I don't know of a single editor that can highlight endif, endforeach, etc.

I think this say it all:

this alternative syntax is excellent for improving legibility (for both PHP and HTML!) in situations where you have a mix of them.

http://ca3.php.net/manual/en/control-structures.alternative-syntax.php

When mixing HTML an PHP the alternative sytnax is much easier to read. In normal PHP documents the traditional syntax should be used.

At our company, the preferred way for handling HTML is:

<? if($condition) { ?>
   HTML content here
<? } else { ?>
   Other HTML content here
<? } ?>

In the end, it really is a matter of choosing one and sticking with it.