I am new to template designing and stuff and have a couple of questions. What do coded and uncoded mean? (see alot of it for WP themes) Secondly, How do you guys start the design process, make it on photoshop and then write css for it or what? Thanks
Uncoded means that it's just a pretty picture (e.g a design idea). Coded means that the 'pretty picture' has actually been coded in html/xhtml/php/whatever, and is ready to be used. I design most of my sites in Photoshop, and then hand code them.
kerosene is correct with his definitions. I like to start any design project with a piece of paper and a pencil. Think about all of the things that you will need on the page(s) and put them down on paper. Sketch out a rough wireframe of where the various elements might fit best. Once you have a rough idea of whats going to be in the design well, start designing. Photoshop is the most widely used but you could also use Gimp or something like that. Now, if you have never designed a site before and are not too familiar with Photoshop I would recommend following tutorials to get used to all that it can offer as a tool. A great place to find tutorials is PSDtuts. They actually have a section devoted to interface designs (sites, menus, buttons, etc.) Their sister site NETtuts has a nice tutorial on taking a layered photoshop file and turning it into a working website. Hope that helps