It's basically a matter of how you need to weight different aspects of your project. If you're project is pretty simple, and your outputs similar, then it probably doesn't matter. If your outputs are very different then you will run into a complexity problem very quickly. In my experience making a generic master template tends to lead to the HTML dicatating how you write your Perl code, and the more generic, the most this tends to hold true - Now HTML becomes the master of the Perl script. Probably the best trade off (as was mentioned before) is to use <TMPL_IF> and <TMPL_INCLUDE>. You add another layer of abstraction in a way, but it will probably be the most maintanable and offers the most ballence.