customising rendering of components

Hi, We've been using Margritte-Seaside for about 6 years now. And we've been hacking around and monkey patching magritte to force it into submission. I'm trying to improve on this approach, as you may agree. I would in general like to understand Margritte better, but perhaps start with: how do you suggest we customise the rendering of a described component? We know of a few hooks, but is there some documentation I can read on this subject? I know my question is vague, but I have so many, and would like to just start somewhere and then dive into more specifics. Please let me know if I should dive into specifics. Further, is this the best mailing list to post on? Thanks Otto