Which one? Custom Template or Replacement Variables?
 

I'm in the process of converting my old 3.xx layout to 4.0. I have a design where I place additional graphics above/below most tables.

In the past I had a custom template and included that template within other templates so I can make changes without having to edit each file I want the additional graphics to be (as there would be a lot of places to make the change.

I'm having problems getting this working with the new template system. So I'm wondering if it would be better to use replacement variables instead. If I use these though, would it have any affect on performance compared to using templates and caching them as I can remember reading some thing over at vB.com that said some thing about memory PHP memory issues if there were too many replacement variables.

Thanking anyone in advance.

I don't think I would use Replacement Variables. I'd do what you did before. Cellarius wrote a really good article that you may be interested in - [vB4] Rendering templates and registering variables - a short guide That should help you in rendering your templates. It also talks about preregistering the variables for use in the other templates.