Given the choice, which of the two would you use as a framework: Smarty or Wordpress?
As for me, I am currently working with a site that was made using Smarty, but it just seems so lacking compared to Wordpress.
In Wordpress, I can just make an entirely new custom page in PHP with my own form or some page that is calling the database, and just upload that single PHP file and use it as a template. From what I’ve observed thus far in Smarty, this seems much more complicated in Smarty.
Besides that, Wordpress is MUCH MORE efficient for SEO.
Last but not least, it really seems to me like Smarty just complicates things. For anyone working on the site after me, if Smarty is used, they’ll have to take time to familiarize themselves with Smarty. However, if Wordpress is used, as far as I can tell, this is just pure PHP without any added gibberish.
Anyway, these are how I see it, but I may be wrong. If I am wrong, please correct me.
Smarty is not an application development framework. Smarty is not an MVC. Smarty is not an alternative to Zend Framework, CodeIgniter, CakePHP, or any of the other application development frameworks for PHP.
Smarty is a template engine, and works as the (V)iew component of your application. Smarty can easily be coupled to any of the engines listed above as the view component. No different than any other software, Smarty has a learning curve. Smarty does not guarantee good application design or proper separation of presentation, this still needs to be addressed by a competent developer and web designer.
Does this mean that Smarty is also not to be used instead of Wordpress?
Yes. Smarty is a template language written in another template language (PHP). It is pretty nifty but definitely not a full-blown blogging engine with aspirations on becoming a CMS like wordpress has grown to be.
If WordPress were a car then Smarty is a car engine that could be placed inside many different cars. That makes Smarty far more flexible - provided that you know how to construct the rest of the “car” around it. Wordpress on the other hand is much easier to use because it already contains everything you need - provided that you want to work the WordPress way.