Hi all After looking at loads of wordpress themes I finally found a couple I like the general layout but basically I want to change everything else - obviously headers and footers and the general design features plus adding various bits and bobs to the side bars. In the past I've always worked in dreamweaver and haven't as yet taught myself CSS (yes I used to edit every single one of my old 400 page site every time I needed to make a change!). The Wordpress site itself seems a bit overwhelming at the moment - hence looking for good recommendations. I do want to learn and put some time into it but surely there's something other than "Obviously this absolute beginners tutorial assumes you know CSS, PHP blah blah blah..." I've been looking through here for ages too and feel like my eyeballs are about to fall out! Thanks
Someone just asked this yesterday too and I pointed them to this site: http://www.wpdesigner.com/2007/02/19/so-you-want-to-create-wordpress-themes-huh/ Pretty much covers everything you'll need.
maybe you want to read my tutorial: http://www.cypherhackz.net/archives/2006/12/13/make-your-own-wordpress-theme-part-1/ -cypher.