I can feel with you, the templates have become a mess over the years.

A5 template system was easy to understand and modify.

A6 template system had better features, but was overly complicated and hard to modify.

Now A7 template system with XML templates took ages to come out, and is in theory a very advanced system but in reality has less features than A6, is inflexible and impossible to modify. No wonder Doug had to go after delivering this system. I wish they would go back to the A6 system, but less complicated and with lite-C.