I use XFCE as my window manager, with Thunar as my file manager. Thunar has always had this “Create Document -> from template” entry in the File menu, but it didn’t come with any templates. I finally went looking for some templates, and found a good collection at stalefries. Just unpack the archive in a directory called “Templates” in your home directory.
BTW, isn’t it about time I created a “linux” category instead of trying to stuff my Linux entries under the “software development” category?