Although templates can be a very valuable learning tools and you can get some good results, don't expect them to be a one-stop, fill-it-up solution. If you want your site to look good, you have to be prepared to spend the time to make it that way. If you're willing to do some reading and research, you can get a pretty decent looking website out of the deal. Know what you're getting in to before you do. There's nothing worse than not having the correct tools to get a job done.

You will need at least some basic HTML skills to get started. Get yourself on over to the W3 Consortium. This is an excellent source of information that we recommend to beginners and advanced website designers alike. There you can find a whole host of info on HTML tags, CSS, web standards, validators and more. Even if you're using a WYSIWYG HTML editor like Dreamweaver, you will still have to know where or how to insert your content and the use of standard HTML tags. What you see is NOT always what you get with these programs, so be prepared to get your hands dirty.

Most people want to tweak their websites, even if they are using a template. Changing your template layout, font styles, sizes and colors will require some CSS skills. You don't need any fancy programs to create or edit CSS files, although they are out there. A simple text editor will do. One free text editing program we highly recommend is Context. Not only is it much more flexible than Notepad and other text editors we've worked with, it is also multi-functional. Use it to create simple text files or use it in one of its many other modes such as HTML, javascript, PHP, SQL or XML. The best thing? We've been using it for ages and it hasn't crashed once! One of the many reasons why we are using it to write this article. Word of advice: never use programs such as Microsoft Word for this purpose. It will wreak havoc with your website.

If you want to change or replace the standard graphics that come with most website templates, you will also need to know something about digital graphics. To change or edit your graphics, you will need a decent graphics program. There are alot of freeware, shareware and commercial graphics editors available for download. At the high end of the market, you will of course find Photoshop and other Adobe programs. This is generally what we use. Paint Shop Pro is also an excellent program which we have used and is much cheaper alternative. Some less expensive shareware options are Photo-Brush and Pixel. Freeware programs such as GIMP, Paint.NET and the popular Inkscape vector graphics software are used by many people who are not ready or willing to lay out a vast amount of cash on a graphics editing program such as Photoshop but still need something with alot of capabilities. Don't let that fool you though. They may be free software, but they are very powerful. Go with what you're comfortable with.

Settle in and get ready to kick into design mode, but be prepared to work for it. After all, nothing worth having comes easy, right? :-)