In this case, i don't think you should allow the designers to do that. Why? Have to answer that one with another question: Why do they need to do that? I'll wager they have no valid, good reason for it.

Many moons ago, samtregar gave me a good piece of advice. There he pointed me to H::T FAQ #11, and since Sam said it much better than i can, i will reprint his text here:

Q: What's the best way to create a <select> form element using HTML::Template?

A: There is much disagreement on this issue. My personal preference is to use CGI.pm's excellent popup_menu() and scrolling_list() functions to fill in a single <tmpl_var select_foo> variable.

To some people this smacks of mixing HTML and code in a way that they hoped HTML::Template would help them avoid. To them I'd say that HTML is a violation of the principle of separating design from programming. There's no clear separation between the programmatic elements of the <form> tags and the layout of the <form> tags. You'll have to draw the line somewhere - clearly the designer can't be entirely in charge of form creation.

It's a balancing act and you have to weigh the pros and cons on each side. It is certainly possible to produce a <select> element entirely inside the template. What you end up with is a rat's nest of loops and conditionals. Alternately you can give up a certain amount of flexibility in return for vastly simplifying your templates. I generally choose the latter.

Another option is to investigate HTML::FillInForm which some have reported success using to solve this problem.

For me, this means that you (the HTML designer) give me the list you want and i will make the select for you.

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)