I currently have html markup stored in xsl and xml. This has previously enabled me to render html markup based on variables I pass into the xsl file. The purpose is to serve common page features such as banner, footer based on site variables. As the project got bigger, I find this approach limiting, as I ended up replicating quite bit of the contents within the xml/xsl files to suit the individual needs of each site.
What is the alternative to xsl/xml? Are there currently better otpions? Coming from a programming perspective, I find it very limiting.
There are a gazillion web templating frameworks out there. Here’s the wikipedia entry on the subject, which is fairly thorough.
Are you doing the rendering client-side? There are a pile of client-side templating options in that article, but the only one I have looked into is Mustache, which seems to strike a nice balance of simplicity and functionality. Actually, Mustache can be run server-side as well.
Good luck!