How to write php+html in one file more beautiful?

Question

<?
if($id == 2) {
?>
       html goes here
<?
} 
else { 
?>
       if id is not 2 then something goes here
<?
}
?>

How can I write php+html in one file more beautiful without learning smarty?

Answer 1

You can use PHP's alternative syntax for control structures:

<? if ($id == 2): ?>
    <h2>some html</h2>
<? else: ?>
    <h2>another html chunk</h2>
<? endif ?>

Note that short_open_tags is a php.ini directive that needs to be enabled explicitly, otherwise you would have to write <?php each time.

Answer 2

You can implement the MVC (Model, View, Controler) design pattern, your code can be used as a modele to load the view:

<?php
if($id == 2) 
{
 //somes variable and array controls
}
else  
{
 //somes variable and array controls
}
//include the view
include('view.php');
?>

In the view.php, you show the html page with only the echos for php variables and array.