No, I wouldn't strip the Smarty...you need to learn to work with it or else you are going to cause all sorts of problems
If you like Dreamweaver, I would suggest reading these threads:
http://forum.x-cart.com/viewtopic.php?t=17274
http://forum.x-cart.com/viewtopic.php?t=74
Honestly, once you get comfortable with the {if} statements, you will be fine. There is no substitute for just diving in and learning it