Forgot to clarify earlier that the reason I use alternative syntax in views/templates is that, when I have a large number of documents open, it makes it very clear which ones are ‘templates’ and which ones should actually do the work (acts as a quick visual hook per file to the context of development).

Like I said though, I do like the ability to use endif, reminds me of bash :)

I found myself, commenting all my curly brackets like so: } // end if or } // end for loop just to be able to remember what they belonged to, so altering the syntax feels like natural progress to me.

I do agree that the alternate syntax is slightly easier to track when using PHP embedded in large HTML files ( (we use them here for views/templates only), but I’d be a little wary of forcing other developers (that you may never talk to) to maintain such an uncommon coding style for classes and other files. Any personal style which could be referenced after your employment with the company as ‘Phil had a habit of…’ is something I’d think long and hard before enforcing adoption.

Plus you’re still tied into using curly braces for your classes, methods, functions, third party code, etc, so I’d consider it muddying the syntax waters.