[thelist] intro and beginner's question!

[gabbie]

Hello :O)
l have only just joined the list, and am very glad to have found you all.
l am a trained graphic designer and hopefully one day will consider myself a
self taught webdesigner! (is there an apprenticeship available out there?
LOL!) l am currently studying macromedia studio mx 2004 with the online
course at macromedia university, and am cruising along nicely. l am having
trouble though with dreamweaver and php scripts, l just don't get it!
Currently l am downloading scripts for galleries, cms's, messageboards etc,
and customising them for my clients with their own graphics and maybe having
a play with the stylesheets. But still keeping the basic structure/placement
of menus etc etc, and not playing with the code too much.
However l want to take it that one step further and start designing my own
templates, so that l'm not limited as much and can have some more control. l
just can't get my head around how to achieve this though! Do l need to have
a top notch knowledge of php before l start, or is it as simple as building
a html template in fireworks or photoshop and then slicing it up and pasting
the php code for various elements within the tables? l look at all the files
involved with a script and am really not sure where to start or which one to
attack first! Can someone help me with a recommended tutorial or plan of
attack, and/or is there a basic set of files for editing a php script? l
know this is a very general question and it would be dependant on what
script you are using, but any pointers would be much appreciated. l
currently have dabbled in oscommerce, zencart, coppermine gallery, mambo cms
and postnuke.

Thanks in advance, and l'm looking forward to becoming part of the group :o)

Gabbie Coburn
Melbourne, Australia

some of my current stuff: (l'm very new so be kind! LOL)
http://www.dotcomdesign.com.au/kupboard/
http://www.dotcomdesign.com.au/kupboardgallery/
http://www.dotcomdesign.com.au/stampgallery/index.php