[jashkenas]

The "structured" nature of Handlebars is important if you're using Ember, because it's set up specifically to allow it to parse the interpolations in your templates and determine what attributes you're binding, and so on. But if you're not using Ember, a "colossal pain in the ass" sounds about right.

Do yourself a favor and use true logic-less templates (Mustache, in all of its myriad flavors) if you really believe in that sort of thing. Or make life easy on yourself and use a programming language you already know. Embedded Ruby, embedded JavaScript, embedded PHP (the only kind there is) -- all have the virtue of allowing as much or as little code as you need and want, and allow you to do whatever you need to get the job done.