diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index 4324d6f2e4..e8b662bbd4 100644
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@
 			global.translator = translator;
 
 			translator.loadServer();
+			
+			var customTemplates = meta.config['theme:templates'] ? path.join(__dirname, 'node_modules', meta.config['theme:id'], meta.config['theme:templates']) : false;
 
 			// todo: replace below with read directory code, derp.
 			templates.init([
@@ -104,7 +106,8 @@
 				'emails/header', 'emails/footer',
 
 				'noscript/header', 'noscript/home', 'noscript/category', 'noscript/topic'
-			]);
+			], customTemplates);
+			
 
 			templates.ready(webserver.init);
 
diff --git a/public/src/forum/admin/topics.js b/public/src/forum/admin/topics.js
index 8960bed25d..5750e83f37 100644
--- a/public/src/forum/admin/topics.js
+++ b/public/src/forum/admin/topics.js
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ define(function() {
 
 						topicsListEl.innerHTML += html;
 						btnEl.innerHTML = 'Load More Topics';
+						$('span.timeago').timeago();
 					} else {
 						// Exhausted all topics
 						btnEl.className += ' disabled';
diff --git a/public/src/templates.js b/public/src/templates.js
index cb153ed10d..bd3f376ca8 100644
--- a/public/src/templates.js
+++ b/public/src/templates.js
@@ -57,30 +57,41 @@
 		return template;
 	};
 
-	function loadTemplates(templatesToLoad) {
+	function loadTemplates(templatesToLoad, customTemplateDir) {
 		function loadServer() {
 			var loaded = templatesToLoad.length;
 
-			for (var t in templatesToLoad) {
-				(function (file) {
-					fs.readFile(__dirname + '/../templates/' + file + '.tpl', function (err, html) {
-						var template = function () {
-							this.toString = function () {
-								return this.html;
-							};
-						}
-
-						template.prototype.file = file;
-						template.prototype.parse = parse;
-						template.prototype.html = String(html);
-
-						global.templates[file] = new template;
-
-						loaded--;
-						if (loaded == 0) templates.ready();
-					});
-				}(templatesToLoad[t]));
+			function getTemplates(directory) {
+				for (var t in templatesToLoad) {
+					(function (file) {
+						fs.readFile(directory + '/' + file + '.tpl', function (err, html) {
+							var template = function () {
+								this.toString = function () {
+									return this.html;
+								};
+							}
+
+							template.prototype.file = file;
+							template.prototype.parse = parse;
+							template.prototype.html = String(html);
+
+							global.templates[file] = new template;
+
+							loaded--;
+							if (loaded == 0) templates.ready();
+						});
+					}(templatesToLoad[t]));
+				}
+			}
+			if (customTemplateDir) {
+				fs.exists(customTemplateDir, function (exists) {
+					var directory = (exists ? customTemplateDir : __dirname + '/../templates');
+					getTemplates(directory);
+				});
+			} else {
+				getTemplates(__dirname + '/../templates');
 			}
+			
 		}
 
 		function loadClient() {
@@ -96,8 +107,8 @@
 	}
 
 
-	templates.init = function (templates_to_load) {
-		loadTemplates(templates_to_load || []);
+	templates.init = function (templates_to_load, custom_templates) {
+		loadTemplates(templates_to_load || [], custom_templates || false);
 	}
 
 	templates.getTemplateNameFromUrl = function (url) {
@@ -227,6 +238,10 @@
 			return new RegExp("<!-- BEGIN " + block + " -->[\\s\\S]*<!-- END " + block + " -->", 'g');
 		}
 
+		function makeConditionalRegex(block) {
+			return new RegExp("<!-- IF " + block + " -->[\\s\\S]*<!-- ENDIF " + block + " -->", 'g');
+		}
+
 		function getBlock(regex, block, template) {
 			data = template.match(regex);
 			if (data == null) return;
@@ -240,6 +255,19 @@
 			return data;
 		}
 
+		function getConditionalBlock(regex, block, template) {
+			data = template.match(regex);
+			if (data == null) return;
+
+			if (self.blocks && block !== undefined) self.blocks[block] = data[0];
+
+			data = data[0]
+				.replace("<!-- IF " + block + " -->", "")
+				.replace("<!-- ENDIF " + block + " -->", "");
+
+			return data;
+		}
+
 		function setBlock(regex, block, template) {
 			return template.replace(regex, block);
 		}
@@ -289,6 +317,14 @@
 						block = parse(data[d], namespace, block);
 						template = setBlock(regex, block, template);
 					} else {
+						var conditional = makeConditionalRegex(d),
+							block = getConditionalBlock(conditional, namespace, template);
+
+						if (block && !data[d]) {
+							template = template.replace(conditional, '');
+						}
+
+
 						template = replace(namespace + d, data[d], template);
 					}
 				}
diff --git a/public/templates/admin/topics.tpl b/public/templates/admin/topics.tpl
index 1521f400ac..f970823db8 100644
--- a/public/templates/admin/topics.tpl
+++ b/public/templates/admin/topics.tpl
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 		</div>
 		<a target="_blank" href="{relative_path}/topic/{topics.slug}">{topics.title}</a>
 		<ul>
-			<li><i class="icon-time"></i> Posted {topics.relativeTime} ago by {topics.username}</li>
+			<li><i class="icon-time"></i> Posted <span class="timeago" title="{topics.relativeTime}"></span> by {topics.username}</li>
 			<li><i class="icon-comments"></i> {topics.postcount} post(s)</li>
 		</ul>
 		<div class="clear"></div>
diff --git a/src/meta.js b/src/meta.js
index 90e581c4bb..f82538ea6a 100644
--- a/src/meta.js
+++ b/src/meta.js
@@ -130,9 +130,8 @@ var utils = require('./../public/src/utils.js'),
 							});
 						},
 						function(config, next) {
-							if (config.staticDir) {
-								themeData['theme:staticDir'] = config.staticDir;
-							}
+							themeData['theme:staticDir'] = config.staticDir ? config.staticDir : '';
+							themeData['theme:templates'] = config.templates ? config.templates : '';
 
 							RDB.hmset('config', themeData, next);
 						}
diff --git a/src/topics.js b/src/topics.js
index b40b67eb7c..76408b9fb5 100644
--- a/src/topics.js
+++ b/src/topics.js
@@ -22,8 +22,12 @@ var RDB = require('./redis.js'),
 	Topics.getTopicData = function(tid, callback) {
 		RDB.hgetall('topic:' + tid, function(err, data) {
 			if (err === null) {
-				if(data)
+				if(data) {
 					data.title = validator.sanitize(data.title).escape();
+					if(data.timestamp) {
+						data.relativeTime = new Date(parseInt(data.timestamp, 10)).toISOString();
+					}
+				}
 
 				callback(data);
 			} else {
@@ -327,8 +331,6 @@ var RDB = require('./redis.js'),
 					topicData['lock-icon'] = topicData.locked === '1' ? 'icon-lock' : 'none';
 					topicData['deleted-class'] = topicData.deleted === '1' ? 'deleted' : '';
 
-					topicData.relativeTime = new Date(parseInt(topicData.timestamp, 10)).toISOString();
-
 					topicData.username = topicInfo.username;
 					topicData.badgeclass = (topicInfo.hasread && current_user != 0) ? '' : 'badge-important';
 					topicData.teaser_text = topicInfo.teaserInfo.text || '',
@@ -455,7 +457,6 @@ var RDB = require('./redis.js'),
 				hasRead = results[1],
 				teaser = results[2];
 
-			topicData.relativeTime = new Date(parseInt(topicData.timestamp,10)).toISOString();
 			topicData.badgeclass = hasRead ? '' : 'badge-important';
 			topicData.teaser_text = teaser.text || '';
 			topicData.teaser_username = teaser.username || '';
diff --git a/src/webserver.js b/src/webserver.js
index c4502787f0..08dbeab485 100644
--- a/src/webserver.js
+++ b/src/webserver.js
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ var express = require('express'),
 					cssSrc: meta.config['theme:src'] || nconf.get('relative_path') + '/vendor/bootstrap/css/bootstrap.min.css',
 					pluginCSS: plugins.cssFiles.map(function(file) { return { path: file } }),
 					title: meta.config.title || '',
+					description: meta.config.description || '',
 					'brand:logo': meta.config['brand:logo'] || '',
 					'brand:logo:display': meta.config['brand:logo']?'':'hide',
 					browserTitle: meta.config.title || 'NodeBB',
@@ -165,7 +166,7 @@ var express = require('express'),
 					},
 					function(next) {
 						// Theme configuration
-						RDB.hmget('config', 'theme:type', 'theme:id', 'theme:staticDir', function(err, themeData) {
+						RDB.hmget('config', 'theme:type', 'theme:id', 'theme:staticDir', 'theme:templates', function(err, themeData) {
 							var themeId = (themeData[1] || 'nodebb-theme-vanilla');
 
 							// Detect if a theme has been selected, and handle appropriately
@@ -183,6 +184,13 @@ var express = require('express'),
 									}
 								}
 
+								if (themeData[3]) {
+									app.use('/templates', express.static(path.join(__dirname, '../node_modules', themeData[1], themeData[3])));
+									if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
+										winston.info('Custom templates directory routed for theme: ' + themeData[1]);
+									}
+								}
+
 								app.use(require('less-middleware')({
 									src: path.join(__dirname, '../node_modules/' + themeId),
 									dest: path.join(__dirname, '../public/css'),