The http://www.tobacamp.com/tutorial/5-easy-steps-converting-html-template-to-joomla-template/ link is a good starter guide but seems to be unavailable, I had to look for it in google cache because the live site is currently blank. To convert your site to Joomla you would make a new shell template from your existing HTML site design, then add to that the required Joomla PHP template code. Basically just take your current index.html, copy and rename it to index.php, then take out all of the written content because all that will go into the database. It might also help you to get an existing Joomla template to look over so you can compare the code structure and layout. Read more on Joomla templates here: http://docs.joomla.org/Joomla!_1.5_Template_Tutorial The code you will need to build the Joomla template looks like this: http://docs.joomla.org/Jdoc_statements You can use this standalone Joomla template toolbar to generate the PHP code needed for all components / modules etc. http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/tools/design-tools/3349 Place each code snippet wherever you want the content related to that component or module to appear in the template. This code will output the main body component : <jdoc:include type="component" /> PHP: Left module code: <?php if($this->countModules('left')) : ?> <jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" style="xhtml" /> <?php endif; ?> PHP: This would output whatever module was set to the left module position, which is by default the left menu navigation. Using the "php if" around the code you can selectively display the module depending if there is content available to show or not. This helps creates a collapsible design that hides the modules instead of just showing a blank area when a module is empty.