If the templates are raw PHP, yeah. Constructing HTML in code like that is a PITA and a recipe for errors and XSS vulnerabilities. It's common to use templating engines like Smarty or Mustache. In that case, you can standardize on PHP files starting with an opening tag and having no closing tag. Then syntax checking is a piece of cake.
After using eZ Publish with its templating language (also implemented in PHP) for about a year, I've found `raw' PHP just more expressive and concise -- and my team, coming from various backgrounds, has that preferrence as well.
Whaddya know, PHP is a templating language, after all.
Also, it takes us less effort to ship product that matches performance requirements with `raw' PHP than with another layer of abstraction.
