diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 0475f6ab39..477b8331c0 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -385,6 +385,11 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 			'stylesheet' => '',
 			'template_engine' => 'internal',
 		);
+		
+		// array of registered template engines ('name'=>'class name')
+		public $template_engines = array();
+		// array of instanced template engines ('name'=>'instance')
+		public $template_engine_instance = array();
 
 		private $ldelim = array(
 			'internal' => '',
@@ -539,6 +544,17 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 			$mobile_detect = new Mobile_Detect();
 			$this->is_mobile = $mobile_detect->isMobile();
 			$this->is_tablet = $mobile_detect->isTablet();
+			
+			/**
+			 * register template engines
+			 */
+			$dc = get_declared_classes();
+			foreach ($dc as $k) {
+				if (in_array("ITemplateEngine", class_implements($k))){
+					$this->register_template_engine($k);
+				}
+			}
+			
 		}
 
 		function get_basepath() {
@@ -712,13 +728,63 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 			return $this->cached_profile_image[$avatar_image];
 		}
 
+
+		/**
+		 * register template engine class
+		 * if $name is "", is used class static property $class::$name
+		 * @param string $class
+		 * @param string $name
+		 */
+		function register_template_engine($class, $name = '') {
+			if ($name===""){
+				$v = get_class_vars( $class );
+				if(x($v,"name")) $name = $v['name'];
+			}
+	 		if ($name===""){
+ 				echo "template engine <tt>$class</tt> cannot be registered without a name.\n";
+				killme(); 
+ 			}
+			$this->template_engines[$name] = $class;
+		}
+
+		/**
+		 * return template engine instance. If $name is not defined,
+		 * return engine defined by theme, or default
+		 * 
+		 * @param strin $name Template engine name
+		 * @return object Template Engine instance
+		 */
+		function template_engine($name = ''){
+			
+			if ($name!=="") {
+				$template_engine = $name;
+			} else {
+				$template_engine = 'smarty3';
+				if (x($this->theme, 'template_engine')) {
+					$template_engine = $this->theme['template_engine'];
+				}
+			}
+			if (isset($this->template_engines[$template_engine])){
+				if(isset($this->template_engine_instance[$template_engine])){
+					return $this->template_engine_instance[$template_engine];
+				} else {
+					$class = $this->template_engines[$template_engine];
+					$obj = new $class;
+					$this->template_engine_instance[$template_engine] = $obj;
+					return $obj;
+				}
+			}
+			
+			echo "template engine <tt>$template_engine</tt> is not registered!\n"; killme();
+		}
+
 		function get_template_engine() {
 			return $this->theme['template_engine'];
 		}
 
-		function set_template_engine($engine = 'internal') {
+		function set_template_engine($engine = 'smarty3') {
 
-			$this->theme['template_engine'] = 'internal';
+			$this->theme['template_engine'] = 'smarty3';
 
 			switch($engine) {
 				case 'smarty3':
@@ -730,11 +796,11 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 			}
 		}
 
-		function get_template_ldelim($engine = 'internal') {
+		function get_template_ldelim($engine = 'smarty3') {
 			return $this->ldelim[$engine];
 		}
 
-		function get_template_rdelim($engine = 'internal') {
+		function get_template_rdelim($engine = 'smarty3') {
 			return $this->rdelim[$engine];
 		}
 
diff --git a/include/friendica_smarty.php b/include/friendica_smarty.php
index b3f0d18a01..f9d91a827d 100644
--- a/include/friendica_smarty.php
+++ b/include/friendica_smarty.php
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 <?php
 
+require_once "object/TemplateEngine.php";
 require_once("library/Smarty/libs/Smarty.class.php");
 
 class FriendicaSmarty extends Smarty {
-
 	public $filename;
 
 	function __construct() {
@@ -37,7 +37,33 @@ class FriendicaSmarty extends Smarty {
 		}
 		return $this->fetch('file:' . $this->filename);
 	}
+	
+
 }
 
-
-
+class FriendicaSmartyEngine implements ITemplateEngine {
+	static $name ="smarty3";
+	// ITemplateEngine interface
+	public function replace_macros($s, $r) {
+		$template = '';
+		if(gettype($s) === 'string') {
+			$template = $s;
+			$s = new FriendicaSmarty();
+		}
+		foreach($r as $key=>$value) {
+			if($key[0] === '$') {
+				$key = substr($key, 1);
+			}
+			$s->assign($key, $value);
+		}
+		return $s->parsed($template);		
+	}
+	
+	public function get_template_file($file, $root=''){
+		$a = get_app();
+		$template_file = get_template_file($a, 'smarty3/' . $file, $root);
+		$template = new FriendicaSmarty();
+		$template->filename = $template_file;
+		return $template;
+	}
+}
diff --git a/include/template_processor.php b/include/template_processor.php
index ebc03b8d84..49d37488f9 100644
--- a/include/template_processor.php
+++ b/include/template_processor.php
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 <?php
+require_once 'object/TemplateEngine.php';
 
 define("KEY_NOT_EXISTS", '^R_key_not_Exists^');
 
-class Template {
-
+class Template implements ITemplateEngine {
+	static $name ="internal";
+	
 	var $r;
 	var $search;
 	var $replace;
@@ -256,7 +258,8 @@ class Template {
 		return $s;
 	}
 
-	public function replace($s, $r) {
+	// TemplateEngine interface
+	public function replace_macros($s, $r) {
 		$this->r = $r;
 
 		// remove comments block
@@ -276,12 +279,18 @@ class Template {
 			$count++;
 			$s = $this->var_replace($s);
 		}
-		return $s;
+		return template_unescape($s);
 	}
-
+	
+	public function get_template_file($file, $root='') {
+		$a = get_app();
+		$template_file = get_template_file($a, $file, $root);
+		$content = file_get_contents($template_file);
+		return $content;		
+	}
+	
 }
 
-$t = new Template;
 
 function template_escape($s) {
 
diff --git a/include/text.php b/include/text.php
index 3d244c61ff..628b4fc2da 100644
--- a/include/text.php
+++ b/include/text.php
@@ -15,39 +15,20 @@ if(! function_exists('replace_macros')) {
 /**
  * This is our template processor
  * 
- * @global Template $t
  * @param string|FriendicaSmarty $s the string requiring macro substitution, 
  *									or an instance of FriendicaSmarty
  * @param array $r key value pairs (search => replace)
  * @return string substituted string
  */
 function replace_macros($s,$r) {
-	global $t;
 	
 	$stamp1 = microtime(true);
 
 	$a = get_app();
 
-	if($a->theme['template_engine'] === 'smarty3') {
-		$template = '';
-		if(gettype($s) === 'string') {
-			$template = $s;
-			$s = new FriendicaSmarty();
-		}
-		foreach($r as $key=>$value) {
-			if($key[0] === '$') {
-				$key = substr($key, 1);
-			}
-			$s->assign($key, $value);
-		}
-		$output = $s->parsed($template);
-	}
-	else {
-		$r =  $t->replace($s,$r);
+	$t = $a->template_engine();
+	$output = $t->replace_macros($s,$r);
 
-		$output = template_unescape($r);
-	}
-	$a = get_app();
 	$a->save_timestamp($stamp1, "rendering");
 
 	return $output;
@@ -582,6 +563,14 @@ function get_markup_template($s, $root = '') {
 	$stamp1 = microtime(true);
 
 	$a = get_app();
+	$t = $a->template_engine();
+	
+	$template = $t->get_template_file($s, $root);
+	
+	$a->save_timestamp($stamp1, "file");
+	
+	return $template;
+	/*
 
 	if($a->theme['template_engine'] === 'smarty3') {
 		$template_file = get_template_file($a, 'smarty3/' . $s, $root);
@@ -602,6 +591,7 @@ function get_markup_template($s, $root = '') {
 		return $content;
 
 	}
+	 */
 }}
 
 if(! function_exists("get_template_file")) {
diff --git a/object/TemplateEngine.php b/object/TemplateEngine.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cbd74aaec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/object/TemplateEngine.php
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<?php
+require_once 'boot.php';
+
+
+/**
+ * Interface for template engines
+ */
+interface ITemplateEngine {
+	public function replace_macros($s,$v);
+	public function get_template_file($file, $root='');
+}