how to create templates?

u can edit from the original index.php, wp-comments.php and wp-layout.css

1 – By understanding what each tag does in the default layout
2 – Yes… but it will probably put in extra code you don’t need. A plaintext editor is better in that respect.
3 – Yes you can, but please credit all work you have used, and also release any templates you have made under the same terms as any you have used.
The best way is to play with the code, break it, make lots of mistakes, learn how to correct them – it’s the best way ??

I found a basic tutorial here, it doesn’t cover everything but it shows that it is possible to make an index.php from scratch.

Thanks guys for all your replies. ?? Keep ’em coming if you have anything more to add. ??

Well it depends what mode it is in. Any suggestion that FP produces valid and web standards based markup is plain wrong.

Yup, very wrong.