i absolutely agree to do as much as possible in the code and not in the template. the more possibilities the template has, the more you are tempted to use them, i guess.

but setting the order of items (not something more complicated like 'sortby column ...') sounds like something to me that the html designer can have control over.

but i could also make the sort order an option which as to be set for the 'View'. mmh, difficult. i'll decide later =)