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Hi Everyone,
I am becoming quite (a lot) interested in designing with joomla, and need an understanding of how to use the template kit extension in Nvu/Composer. There doesn't appear to be any tutorials available on how to use a HTML template to insert and design with joomla modules. Is there anyone who could shed some light on this subject. It would be MUCH appreciated.

Well, I'm not sure what Nvu/Composer is... Probably just a WYSIWYG editor which won't help you much!

There is some information about Joomla template creation but you have to dig and know what you are looking for. For example, here is the master list of Joomla template documentation at the Joomla site:
http://docs.joomla.org/Category:Templates

Here is the page most people find. I edited it recently to include a link to the page above since I had so much trouble finding information.
http://docs.joomla.org/Template

Both of the links above are for Joomla versions 1.5+ only. Joomla 1.0 versions can be used with Joomla 1.5 but 1.5 templates must be modified to work with Joomla 1.0! There are tutorials available for this in the developers section of the Joomla site. The problem is that most of the Joomla website is geared towards the documentation and support of Joomla 1.5 now so older 1.0 articles may have been or soon will be removed.

On to what you'll need to consider before continuing...
A Joomla template is made up almost entirely of HTML! This is great news for people wanting to create their own template or modify an existing one. Style of course is completely controlled with CSS. The CSS is usually stored in a separate file but occasionally, multiple files are used along with embedded CSS to compensate for browser differences and still more CSS might be dynamically generated and embedded to control items that vary due to selections you make in the template manager etc...

It is important to have some knowledge of PHP. Without PHP, you cannot create a template for Joomla. This is because your template will need to automatically adjust for varying conditions such as no modules in a specific position. Other PHP is used to actually specify the module positions in the template.

Because of this mix of code, using a WYSIWYG editor isn't very practical for a few reasons. None are able to create the required PHP code needed. Most create awful HTML code which makes it more difficult to complete the template since you have to clean the code up first. Most use inline styling only so creating an embedded style sheet or even a CSS file is a lot of work. Because of the dynamic nature of Joomla website, no WYSIWYG editors are not capable of anticipating the code needed to make a template work.

Basically if you don't know HTML and CSS, you can't create a template for Joomla You will need to be able to code by hand at some point in time.

I generally create a pure HTML/CSS document with all of the colors and images I want to use then convert that to Joomla! Converting isn't too difficult but again, you have to assume that any given module position may be empty when displayed and adjust the rest of the template to exclude that part of the template. Otherwise, you could end up with large holes in the template. For example, if you used a common three column template but there isn't any modules to be loaded in the right column, then you'll have an empty column that will look awful and take up valuable space. In that case, you really need to have the template adjust to a two column style instead.

Once your index.php file is done, you have to also create the configuration file and XML installer file. This is the minimum I believe.

You'll need to read the documentation for template creation in the links I provided and also install and study several other templates.

Here are a few more links for you, for Joomla 1.0 and under as well as Mambo tutorials, I suggest these sites:
http://www.mambohut.com/tutorials/
http://www.mambosolutions.com/dw_tutorial/


I hope this helps.
vujsa

Like vusja said, it's easy to design a Joomla template, but you need to have some HTML and PHP knowledge. The best way to create your first template is to re-used existing templates and change them to your likings, that's how I created my first Joomla template.

DONT LISTEN TO HIM
Joomla Template Kit Extension For Nvu/composer

I'll be honest, you may be right at 1 point...

But, I'll guarantee you when you get the template kit extention working, you will be a God. I swear to God, this is the best thing thats ever happened. I'm' huge in designing my OWN website. But, never had the flexibility to actually implement a Content Management system to it. Now I can! its as simple as making a design in Photoshop, slicing it, and then adding the code for the main information... Then add the code for the menu... And Wallah. Then go to the administrator area and add your menus and content. It's not as bad as you think. That extention kit is the ****!