Best Program for this layout...

[Valia]

Hi, my name is Valia and I'm new to CSS. I have been reading up on the basics, and have been able to modify style sheets to some extent. My question is, what program (such as Joomla) is my best option for what I'm looking to do? Or is it best to design my own CSS template for this?

This is what I need:

1. Clickable logo at the top of the website
2. A top menu that links to main content/text area
3. A mouse rollover slide-out side menu that links to main content/text area (Javascript or CSS?)
4. A search bar
5. Ad block capability that would allow me to have self-made ad blocks in the right hand corner of the page going down the page, that would also be flexible and easily interchangable

To accomplish this, the support I will need includes:
1. HTML
2. CSS
3. JavaScript
4. FTP
5. Flash
6. eCommerce (this will come later on down the line)

I appreciate any suggestions you all can offer! Thank you!

[boogyman]

1. Clickable logo at the top of the website

that is just an image tag inside of an anchor tag

<a href="/path/to/link"><img src="path/to/img" width="" height="" alt="__alt_desc__"></a>

2. A top menu that links to main content/text area
3. A mouse rollover slide-out side menu that links to main content/text area (Javascript or CSS?)

so you are thinking about using some sort of frameset or iframe?

4. A search bar

to search within the current page the user just needs to hit Ctrl+F
if you were looking for a "site-wide" or category-based search, you need some sort of database, like MySQL (free) or Oracle (not-free)

5. Ad block capability that would allow me to have self-made ad blocks in the right hand corner of the page going down the page, that would also be flexible and easily interchangeable (changed spelling, you were missing the E on change)

are you talking space to place ad's or are you talking about a program that blocks ads put on by a host?
the former is creating the space yourself. I am assuming you probably would want the ads to be click (linkable) therefore you would need to incorporate an anchor tag per every ad. If you want to make the ads dynamic, meaning that on reload (refresh) potentially new ads show up, you would either need to use Javascript or a server-side language like PHP (free) or ASP (not free)
the latter would most likely be against your hosts (company / website where you store/manage your website files) "terms of use" policies. There are scripts that can do this, however it is generally not advisable and your host could / may actually just take down your hole site for violating their "terms of use" policies.

To accomplish this, the support I will need includes:
1. HTML
2. CSS
3. JavaScript

html / css / javascript are all languages that are naturally supported by just about all hosts these days. They are all client-side applications, meaning they are performed or used when the browser executes the script (page) that has those languages on them

4. FTP

FTP is a service that is sometimes disallowed by the host, but generally is widely accepted.

5. Flash

I do not know any hosts that disallow flash files (swf), however the user would need the correct plug-in support for the version the movie file was created for. Meaning if someone has a plug-in for Flash 6 but the movie (swf) files was made and saved for Flash 8, the user would need to upgrade their version of flash in order to view that file.

6. eCommerce (this will come later on down the line)

Again this is dependent on the host. Some hosts allow for eCommerce by default, some offer ability for the customer (you) to create an eCommerce based site but do not offer it themselves, and some offer the service but require additional financial responsibilities.

The eCommerce bit requires some type of server-side language like PHP or ASP, and generally is used in conjunction with a database that holds the products / services that are for purchase.

There are programs that can help you create the pages yourself, more commonly known as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors like Dreamweaver (pay), HTML Kit (free), FrontPage (pay), etcetc... however those usually add in extra code that is unnecessary, and also most of those programs use the <table> tag as their primary layout schema.

My suggestion is that you look at different hosting sites. Do some background research on sites that use this host... how well do they support their clients, what features do they offer in terms of coding/databases/support
etcetc...
as for building the site itself I would suggest you do that by hand, however that may proof difficult if you are inexperienced at writing websites from scratch. (If you have specific questions we can help you in that aspect)

[Medyman]

As Boogyman said, most of what you want to do is dictated by your skills, not of any type of CMS (content management system) that you use.

A CMS is more a means of adding and maintaining content rather than "creating" a site. With most - major CMS products, you'll need to have a theme/template into which content is placed via the CMS. Basically, the CMS doesn't create the markup for you.

So, the first step for you might be to figure out how to handle the design of the site. And then to handle the content. If you don't necessarily need dynamic content (i.e. you'll create the site once and then not really make many changes to it), then a CMS probably doesn't make sense for you.

With that said, most CMS applications do usually have a set of default (and others for purchase, I'm sure). Some popular CMS applications are Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, and MovableType. My personal favorite is ExpressionEngine -- an amazingly flexible and powerful content management system.

[Valia]

Thanks for the suggestions! At this point, I'm definitely using Joomla, and probably a pre-made Joomla template, but I want to be able to make modifications to it. To give you an idea of what I'm looking to do, take a look at this template: http://joomla3.phpsoftwares.com/

And this, where I wrote over what I want to do with it:


Is it possible to have image blocks in place of menu items/ modules in the right and left hand columns? If so, how would I go about modifying the CSS of a template like this? Also, is it possible to substitute a regular menu for a slide-out menu, for both the top and side menus, using a pre-made template?

Thank you!

[boogyman]

is Joomla a web-based program (url) or a software that you download onto your local hard-drive and run?

If it's the former, it is just a website and you can do everything that you can do on any other web page you visit.
If its the latter, I do not know why they have adds there, which leads me to believe it's a web-based system.

your suggestions are all possible, but it appears that image is a template, and what you wish to do is re-organize that template. For page creation sake, you would probably be better creating your own template by hand, and load that into some "CMS" and edit the page that way. The suggestions you have made are really totally different from the layout of that page, so it's not some simple 1/2 line reorganization

[Medyman]

is Joomla a web-based program (url) or a software that you download onto your local hard-drive and run?

@boogyman:
Joomla is an open-source CMS

@Valia:
What you want to do is certainly possible. It's all just changing the CSS around. The specifics depend on the specific template you're using.

I'm basing these off of general assumptions. I haven't used Joomla (nor plan to) but I did look through it once. I find it to be bloated and total overkill for most people.

As mentioned, I use ExpressionEngine for my clients' sites. It allows me to create a basic interface for my non-so-tech-savvy clients and an option-rich, multiple module interface for my more technologically competent ones. Of course, EE needs some HTML/CSS knowledge to implement so it's probably not for you. I'm just making a general statement.