PHP Newb - how to write a tag in PHP?

Hey,

I am familiar with JSP web development and I want to learn PHP. The
project I'm on has what seems to be questionable practices for the
PHP. That's why I chose PHP evang list.

First off, the PHP is concatenating HTML and JavaScript. We have some
functions to generate the buttons. These use helper/util functions.
Sample:

        $s = '<a href="#" id="' . $id .
            '" ' . $extra . ' onMouseOver="return
Button.buttonChangeOver(this.id, '. $style . ');" onMouseOut="return
Button.buttonChangeNormal(this.id, '. $style . ');"
onMouseDown="return Button.buttonChangeDown(this.id, '. $style . ');"
onMouseUp="return Button.buttonChangeOver(this.id, '. $style . ');"
onClick="'.$callback.'">';
        if ($pngImg) {
            $s .= $pngImg;
        } else {
            $s .= '<img id="' . $id . '-img" src="' .
self::images($img) . '" border="0">';

One of the cleaner examples in the source code.

If I were presented such code on a Java project, I'd be quick to
recommend a .tag file, and pass the requisite objects to the tag
(extract method [Fowler]). Util and helper static functions are a good
indicator of poor design and usually lead to the type of spaghetti
code I'm witnessing here (it's my first day today).

Problem: How can I make a tag, or properly encapsulate the button
functionality?

My goal is to avoid mixing HTML in PHP code, but don't know the proper
way in PHP. Is it possible?


-- 
Programming is a collaborative art.