[@johnjamesjacoby Keymaster 15 years, 4 months ago]

I don’t think using something like that is a bad idea at all. I’d reverse the logic a little bit, and predefine the template hierarchies for the single, archive and else scenarios, and allow them to cascade as needed from several locations.

The long term performance issue is: the more possible files it looks for, the more file_exists() checks PHP runs, which is more access to the file system, and when those get into the hundreds of requests is going to be a pain point. Like many things it’s a balance between flexibility and performance, and finding the best times to make those compromises.

I could see something like this happening for BuddyPress 1.4, and possibly for bbPress 2.1. I’ll play with the idea after Beta 2 drops to see if it’s worth making the adjustment. It’s a bit late in the beta phase to make a change this large, but if the overall benefit is worth the change and it doesn’t break any existing installs, then it’s a possibility.