I have a client (a city) & with staff & board members there are several options of how the site should look. The last redesign was done based on the pres. of the bd's ideas. Now the thought is it is too text heavy & lacks visual appeal - it is & it does, he didn't want people to have to click for info So now they have a good idea (I have a sketch) of how they want the home pg to look & it is much more pleasing to the eye & still gets people get the info they want, quickly. The bulk of it will be the outsides of all the other pgs as well. This site has a lot of pgs - ie. there is a business directory & each bus. category will have a pg listing all bus. of that type.

They want 3 pics across the top, then a row of drop down menus which will lead to the 'info' pages, below that 3 columns of content, including a vital info, calendar of events, announcements, etc.

So my question is, do I try to tweek a CC template? Or do I code a pg from scratch & copy it for each of the add'l pgs within the site?

I just updated HTML editor.

Thanks for any input.
Jess

I would tweek a CC template that comes close to what they want or what you think they want. I would also suggest you use a CSS file making it easier between pages.

When I do a site I normally pull code from an existing CSS website and adjust it to my use. Reason being if you start from scratch and you have 20 pages that have to be done, that is a lot of typing and coding that has already been done in an existing template. If you need help let me know and I will help you as I can.

I agree that a css file would be easier to maintain than having the styles in the head of several pages. Just make sure that you don't end up with conflicting rules for one and the same page element. That is why I actually prefer doing things from scratch. I can still look into an existing css or html file and copy chunks of code that I need.

If you have a lot of pages that are supposed to look the same, just with different content, I'd create a 'master page' with just 'lorem ipsum' text and then paste in the correct contents.

Thank you so much for the insight.
I have to say, I've been writing HTML from scratch for years. But have only written basic css as I needed it, so I thought starting with a template would make that easier - I could learn more advanced css as I work with the theme.

Trouble is so far the theme I like best is for VSD. I tried playing around with a theme included in VSD to see if I liked it (I've had VSD for years-came in the bundle my hubby bought me with HTML editor, but had never used it). It makes me feel like I did when my boss got me Web Author 1.0 back in 1996, I couldn't get it to do what I want so I learned HTML. Now I want the text to do more that it seems I can in VSD, plus I want drop down menus, a calendar, slide show, bulleted lists of links along one side, etc.

So can I take a VSD theme & import into HTML Editor & have it remain a theme? And can I really change everything in a theme, color & size of sections for example? Can I make a 2 column theme into a 3 colomn theme without too much trouble?

Thanks for any tips,
Jess

If you are html savvy, I suggest that you open your preferred theme in vsd and create the first page the way you want, possibly without all the extras you mention, and when you are pleased with the result, save it, and it will create a folder with all the html, css and graphics in it. From then on you can edit it further with the Editor.
Just bear in mind, that once you start making changes to the page outside VSD, you will not be able to go back to VSD again without losing those changes.

I know there is a bunch of VSD specialists here who will be able to guide you through VSD and do your extras within the programme, but I'm not one of them, I code my pages in the Editor.