Firefly newby with questions

[dsowash]

Im new to Hotaru but have experience with pligg. Are themes (pligg templates) and plugins (pligg modules) similar in construction?

[PuckRobin]

Pligg uses Smarty, isn't it? Hotaru uses its own engine based on pure php classes. Plugins work by modifying those class methods. I am not familiar with Pligg, but I hope this gives you an idea :)