When subscribing to a remote media collection, a user might want to "mirror" the files published there. This could be a "diskgobbler" plugin if not in the core of mediagoblin.

source : ​http://mediagoblin.org/news/fsws-2012-wrap-up.html

I've toyed a bit with template hooks, and I must say I'm not so very fond of it.

The thing I dislike is that you have to modify templates. That is to say that some part of the plugin behavior is outside of the plugin.

I think it'd be a way better idea to add an overriding system for plugins, in that order Base templates -> themes -> plugins (plugins win all the time).

That said, it can be a good idea to add hooks in some places you'd expect to be modified often (in the forms before the submit, at the end of media data's template...)

This is (almost) the part 2 of the previous ticket.

If the template override system is to be modified, I believe it'd be a great idea to allow multiple themes and a customizable override order :

That would allow someone to make small design enhancement/mods without having to build a whole theme (perfect for plugins).

You would have to add those lines in the ini :

#the main theme
theme_base=base

#optional themes, each one override the previous one - that overide the base theme
theme[0]=my_theme
#if someone has made a theme for devices with screens smaller than 320px :
theme[1]=phone_theme
# some plugins would require to have this line added to the ini
plugin_theme[2]=my_plugin_1

That'd make theme and plugins way more flexible whith, at all time, a clean basic theme.