How This Web Page Was Created
First, I created a a layout of the page on paper. Then, I tried to create a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) that would control the layout as I designed it on paper. This step is surprisingly difficult and exasperating. One would think that all browsers would follow the rules, but they don't, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer ignores most of the rules. I recommend newbies review the CSS Reference and see which properties are supported by three popular browsers.
I don't claim to be a CSS expert, and I'm sure there are more efficient ways to layout my page, but if you are interested in creating your own CSS, there are plenty of sites on the web where you can learn all you'd like on the topic. Here are a few sites that I found useful:
After working and reworking my CSS to get the best compromise among the three browsers most likely to view my site: IE, Firefox, and Safari, I stopped to think about the best way to manage the web pages. I settled on the idea of having a template written in PHP that creates all the common pieces. The only thing that is different page-to-page is the content.
Now all I have to do is create the page I link to, for example webpage.php where I define the page title and content file name, and include the template. I put all the content in the content page, and I have an easy way to keep a consistent look and feel from page to page, and I don't have to keep cutting and pasting code to create the menu or information in the header and footer. None of this is earth moving, but I thought I'd include this information for anyone who may be interested.