Markup utility functions sandbox...looking for a proof-of-concept

gistfile1.php

<?php

/**
 * Refactored l() and theme-less version of theme_link().
 *
 * @see markup_html_tag().
 */
function markup_l($title, $path, $options = array()) {
  // Merge in defaults.
  $options += array(
    'attributes' => array(),
    'html' => FALSE,
  );

  // Append active class.
  if (($path == current_path() || ($path == '<front>' && drupal_is_front_page())) &&
      (empty($options['language']) || $options['language']->langcode == language(LANGUAGE_TYPE_URL)->langcode)) {
    $options['attributes']['class'][] = 'active';
  }

  // Remove all HTML and PHP tags from a tooltip. For best performance, we act only
  // if a quick strpos() pre-check gave a suspicion (because strip_tags() is expensive).
  if (isset($options['attributes']['title']) && strpos($options['attributes']['title'], '<') !== FALSE) {
    $options['attributes']['title'] = strip_tags($options['attributes']['title']);
  }

  // Set href attribute.
  $options['attributes']['href'] = check_plain(url($path, $options));

  return _markup_html_tag('a', ($options['html'] ? $text : check_plain($text)), $options['attributes']);
}

/**
 * Theme-less version of theme_image().
 * @param $uri
 *   Drupal file URI for the image to be changed to src attribute.
 * @return An <img> tag string.
 * @see markup_html_tag().
 */
function markup_image($uri, $attributes = array()) {
  $attributes['src'] = file_create_url($uri);
  return _markup_html_tag('img', NULL, $attributes);
}

/**
 * Theme-less version of theme_image_style().
 */
function markup_image_style($style_name, $uri, $attributes = array()) {
  // Determine the dimensions of the styled image.
  $dimensions = array(
    'width' => !empty($attributes['width']) ? $attributes['width'] : NULL,
    'height' => !empty($attributes['height']) ? $attributes['height'] : NULL,
  );

  image_style_transform_dimensions($style_name, $dimensions);

  // ======================================================
  // = Problem: what about the class that was added here? =
  // ======================================================

  // Determine the URL for the styled image.
  $attributes['src'] = image_style_url($style_name, $uri);
  return _markup_html_tag('img', NULL, $attributes);
}

/**
 * Theme-less HTML tag builder helper. This isn't designed to be called directly.
 * @param $tag
 *   The name of the tag.
 * @param $value
 *   The inner value of the tag.
 * @param $attributes
 *   Array of HTML attributes to be built as Attribute object.
 * @param $cdata
 *   Whether to wrap the tag inner value with CDATA parameters.
 * @return Built HTML tag.
 */
function _markup_html_tag($tag, $value = NULL, $attributes = array(), $cdata = FALSE) {

  // ==================================================================
  // = Problem: overengineering with something like hook_tag_alter(). =
  // ==================================================================
  // $args = func_get_args();
  // drupal_alter('tag', $args);
  // list($tag, $value, $attributes, $cdata) = $args;

  $attributes = !empty($attributes) ? new Attribute($attributes) : '';
  if (isset($value)) {
    // Open tag.
    $output = '<' . $tag . $attributes . '>';
    // Consider CDATA.
    $output .= $cdata ? "\n<!--/*--><![CDATA[/*><!--*/\n" . $value . "\n/*]]>*/-->\n" : $value;
    // Close tag.
    $output .= '</' . $element['#tag'] . ">\n";
    return $output;
  }
  else {
    // No inner value.
    return '<' . $tag . $attributes . " />\n";
  }
}