After trying to set up my first DNN site using 4.4.1, the biggest flaw I have encountered so far is support of page templates.  Developers are too spoiled by the simplicity of ASP.NET 2.0's master pages to be satisfied with DNN template capabilities.

It is not enough to allow copying of page components from one page to another.  Developers want to be able to easily change the underlying template and have all pages based on that template to immediately reflect the change.

In my case, I want to create a base portal template that includes empty modules for editable information like the footer contents.  I then want to have section templates (which are in turn based on the portal template) for groups of pages that contain placeholders for common content to be displayed on each page.

I am comfortable with the idea of establishing site layout in skins and containers.  I don't want to hard-code content information (for a common site footer, for example) in a skin.  This is content information that should be editable by the site administrator.

Although I have not tried it yet, I understand from a forum entry that there is a way from the Host account to export the entire site template and then edit the resulting XML file to create a page template.  First, this seems very cumbersome.  Second, a basic function like this (even if it must be done in such a cumbersome way), should be documented, not stuck deep in a forum.  Finally, page templates should be portal-specific, not host-specific.

If I am missing something here (which I certainly could be) please let me know.  Otherwise, this should be elevated to a top priority change for the next DNN release.