Trying to embed WP functions in my PHP pages, cannot control display location.

I am a beginner with WP, but a long time PHP user.

I am trying to use the functions from WP in my site’s PHP coded pages.

I get the result from the functions ok, it’s just that they do not seem to recognize my formatting, and when I put them in a DIV or SPAN.

The output just floats to the top of the page.

I am using:

define(‘WP_USE_THEMES’, false);

/** Loads the WordPress Environment and Template */
require(‘./_BLOG/wp-blog-header.php’);

on my main index page, and when I try and use something like the_title(); or the_excerpt(); I get the text ok, it just does not seem to want to follow my main sites formatting and layout code.

I must be missing something, or am I forced to use templating?