I hate templates

You can simply ignore this if you like, or if you disagree, but I feel the need to rant a little.

<soapbox>

I've been working for the last couple of days with a template that I downloaded from Hostgator. It looks nice, but it has one problem that I see over and over again in templates: it was apparently created with PhotoShop, then sliced up.

Here's the issue: In this particular case, the page has a patterned gradient gray background. The content field is white, and there are a couple of white-bordered boxes (top & left) on the outside of that field. The one on the left is for site navigation, and the one on top has tiny icons to link to the home page, email, etc.

Here's the first problem: I don't really want the box on the top. If it was created with HTML, no problem. But it's not. It's an image. I could delete it, but it takes the top border of the content field with it. Remove the icons (which, ironically, ARE included via code), and I'm left with an empty box at the top of my pages. It looks stupid. As if it's supposed to have something in it...

2nd (potentially worse) problem: The navigation box to the left is set up similarly, but in this case, I want to add additional nav links. Can't do it without breaking the design.

Why must people always look for the shortcut? PS is great for designing a website, but it is NOT a website CREATION tool, unless you are designing inflexible structures. If you're handy with it, great! Design beautiful sites... Then let a web developer make it happen.

</soapbox>

Tim