I am going to be working on a CMS site using Joomla. However I don;t want to go out and download a free template and I don;t want to pay a web design to do it. I was wondering how easy it is and if any one has experience or knowledge on this subject. i am currently researching tutorials and what not, but before I dive into this project - how much will I have to learn? I already know CSS/HTML. Is this a project that will require alot of time and dedication to begin?

For now I am just going to work on setting up the system and then content. Then I will work on a template and finally market the site.

ok now if you're talking about Joomla itself, you won't need to learn anything, you don't even need to read any tutorials. It's VERY easy to get along with. But in case you're talking about making templates for Joomla then that could be some hard work. well it's not really hard but needs some effort. I remember that I once read a tutorial about it and it didn't seem that hard but I didn't actually get the whole idea cuz I didn't know anything at that time. but now if I re-read that same tutorial again, I think it'll be very easy to me to make Joomla templates. So actually I encourage you on doing that. just give it a little part of your free time and you'll be doing it very soon. good luck

If you already know CSS/HTML, you don't need any tutorial to start modifying the original templates that came with Joomla! (madeyourweb, rhuk_solarflare_ii).

Go ahead, just give the first step and modify the templates that Joomla! has with it.