I like the idea of a smarter template if tag but after having looked at the snippets page it doesn't look quite like what I was hoping for. I was looking for something more the tornado framework's implementation.
I prefer tornado's template system in general. It's much closer to actual python in terms of syntax and the ability to pass functions from a request handler to the template is sweet!
One of the stated goals of Django's template system is to be "safe" - to ensure that template developers can't cause too much damage. The Tornado model essentially allows arbitrary Python code to be evaluated, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but would break the contract Django has already established. I think the smarter {% if %} statement proposal is much closer to Django's philosophy.
I prefer tornado's template system in general. It's much closer to actual python in terms of syntax and the ability to pass functions from a request handler to the template is sweet!