Hey Gem, Have a look at this tutorial on CSS. http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp It's the W3 tutorial and is very easy for starters.
With the misguided PageRank guy - did you ever direct him to Stanford's paper on the subject, or Google's description of it on their site? Does he just think they're lying to cover up the big secret?
Perhaps he is noticing increased spidering because he will have a new last modified header every time google comes around. Yes its a funny theory but there is a chance someone noticed something somewhere once to base it on and that could be it.