[mathias]

Starting out with Joomla this week, and am having lots of trouble with creating my own template from scratch. I'm not going to use pre-made templates online. I create original sites, but now need to implement a CMS for them.

Also, I need a good explination of the PHP variable names used in the Joomla CMS.

Thanks.

[bgw]

Use the most simple template you can find, then develop from that, at least at 1st. I know of pro developers that always start off with a simple template for a CMS, then work their magic to make it something unique. No shame in that, cuts out the tedious work.

And, I'm sure you'd be better off asking around the joomla forums for variable information. Likely it's already there, somewhere.

[bball2]

I worked joomla a little bit, but I hated the whole tables layout that's built into it. Starting from scratch, definitely go with bgw's advice, go with a simple theme and start customizing it, for the php variable names joom'a faq / help sections would be your best bet.

[steharg]

i dont know if you need to use joomla for a specific reason but have you tried cmsmadesimple instead? i found it to be the easiest cms to customise