Website layout help......RESOLVED!!!

[Pimp Racer]

Alright guys I dont know why but my current site doesnt support MAC users and my buddy the guy who helps me out if I have any questions is out on spring break right now getting wasted and probably wont be back for a while.
So anyways does anyone have any suggestions on how to make my site compatible to work for MAC users?

I was thinking of just starting a brand new layout. I tried looking on google for a few hours today and I cant find any thing that looks like what I want. Maybe I was searching for the wrong thing? I want all the codes and everything and then I can just readjust them to my likeings and then give credit to the makers but I cant find anything.
I did however find a VERY helpful site - http://www.bluerobot.com/web/layouts/ but they didnt have what I wanted. :(


What I want/hope my site will look like is somthing as pictured in this drawing that I did -
http://img16.exs.cx/img16/4357/pimpsupcomingsite6jy.th.jpg (http://img16.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img16&image=pimpsupcomingsite6jy.jpg)

Basically I want the background to be black with about 1/2 or 1 inch white border type of thing on the outside and round edges on the the part.

Lets see I would perfer to have the logo in the middle and then on the right have the Navigation menu thingy and then in the middle of the page have a scrolling thing going from bottom to top with text. I would really appericate it if someone can help me out.
BTW a friend went into dreamweaver and got me a page that I want my site to look like so I downloaded the trial version of dreamweaver and it is confusing as hell to me so I kinda give up on that for now and thought I should try here.

This is the one he did in dreamweaver -

http://img226.exs.cx/img226/3553/untitled0pt.th.jpg (http://img226.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img226&image=untitled0pt.jpg)


I want it to look like - http://img226.exs.cx/img226/27/tsgs5ak.th.jpg (http://img226.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img226&image=tsgs5ak.jpg)

[crazidude]

I would personally put the navigation on the left like most websites. Generally keep it simple and try not to clutter stuff.

If you don't know html, or you're not planning to learn it (its great fun btw), I would strongly suggest that you learn how to use Dreamweaver or Frontpage, preferably dreamweaver because it's far better.

If you want scrolly text in the center there's like a text box function in dreamweaver, or alternatively you can find the script for a text box thing and make your site in notepad.

Making rounded edge borders are easy as long as you have photoshop or something. There's a function to make a rounded rectangular box, which you can set as your background.

[irrational_i]

Well first of all the web is littered with illegible black websites.
That said - If you use dynamic content, like out of a database, its likely that your friend used asp(Visual Basic). asp=windows, not MAC. Plain html is always the best in my opinion.
For dynamic content I suppose php is best, although I use jsp(Java) more often

I also stay away from any products like dreamweaver. As a programmer I prefer to code a website from scratch. That way I know whats going on.

As for layout. I suggest you learn the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). With that you can have fairly simple html in complex layouts.
Have a look at this website:

http://www.csszengarden.com/

You can get at the stylesheets and source code too. Take the time to browse through the examples. Its well worth it.
Its not that hard to learn and you will be thankful. Even make some money on the side doing websites. 8)

A good example on the site:
http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=044%2F044%2Ecss

[AlienDB7]

The scrollbar can be done easily using CSS, although it may not work well with certain (older?) browsers. Take a look at http://www.domedia.org/oveklykken/css-div-scroll.php

[Pimp Racer]

Thanks alot guys! I really appericate the help! I will try and work on this on my free time on saturday I hope! :)

BTW I am getting this HTML stuff in my head now....kinda.

[Pimp Racer]

To make a long story short with the help of another friend he gave me his HTML things since he took down his site and I got my problem resolved! Well sorta....took me a while to get the site to black and then the text and everything else..and I still cant get the Headers to show up in black for some reason..:(
I circled them incase you dont know what I am talking about. But here is a sneak peek! :D

Click on image to make it bigger!

http://img32.exs.cx/img32/125/untitled0aa.th.jpg (http://img32.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img32&image=untitled0aa.jpg)