New templates

[brucewhealton]

Hello,
I am having a hard time finding an explanation as to how to modify the template. What tools should one use? What would one edit? Are there free templates out there? I found one that said red template but when I tried to install it, it didn't work.
I am fairly certain that I had found a working template before but now I cannot find that particular template.
Please help me. I don't know where to start. I read that one duplicates the arfooo template folder but that is about as far as the explanation goes. There are so many files and folders in the template folder that I'm not certain which ones to edit.
Bruce

[playpant]

Ever notice that most references (read: books) start out with a basic template already set, but almost none tell you how to get to that initial point? Hopefully this tutorial will help you understand the first part of using templates... Creating a new template from scratch.

A good place to start this tutorial is with a clear statement of the value, the purpose, and the operation of templates:

* The value of templates is that they allow you to control most (all?) of the pages in your small to medium site (~50 pages) by only manipulating several (one?) file(s).
* The purpose of templates is to provide a simple way to make sure that a) all dependent pages (child pages) have the same look and navigation, and b) to facilitate the maintenance of those pages.
* The operation of templates is to propagate all changes made to non-editable regions in the template file into all associated child pages. Thus, a single change in a template will appear in multiple pages automatically, while still allowing those child pages to contain unique (page-specific) content.