Theme development

I would like to know if some one can tell me if it is possible to create a fixed width theme that when there is no blocks then the page area stretches to the full width of the theme and when there is a block the left column appears and then the page width shrinks to the width of the theme less the width of the left column.

I cant seem to find a existing drupal theme that is already doing this. I would prefer to modify a existing theme for the sake of time saving.

I want to learn about phptemplate more. I'd like to understand how phptemplate builds the html file. How can I override the default settings. For example if I want to remove or add a certain element from a page.

I managed to edit existing themes by deleting stuff and managed to create separate themed pages for different node types, but I want to have a deeper understanding.

What shall I read? Or even better, is anybody available for a payed coaching over skype or email?

Thanks!

I've been using Drupal for years. I've got my newly-designed site up: DocForge. I like the colors but I'd like to bring it more life. Where can I find a simple set of free icons to represent things like polls, users, books, etc.? Eventually I'd like taxonomy images, but for now I'd settle for the basics. I just don't want to spend $100 for a set and I'm terrible at drawing them myself. Any ideas?

If there's nothing both good and free, any suggestions on a good source to buy them?

I am trying to override the default Organic Groups view function with phptemplate. When I add the funciton

function phptemplate_og_view(&$node, $teaser = FALSE, $page = FALSE) {
     return 'THIS IS ONLY A TEST';
}

Two warnings are displayed when I try to view the organic groups home page

warning: array_key_exists(): The second argument should be either an array or an object in /big/dom/xacslaw/www/modules/node.module on line 628.

and

Hi,

I've been trying to develop a new private theme using the PHPTemplate engine since 2 days now and there's still a problem that's preventing me from achieving my work.

The variables $sidebar_left and $sidebar_right are always empty. No matter what I do, they always contain nothing. They are also empty when using the civicspace theme, but they have the correct content when using the kubrick theme.

I've check their source codes and I don't see any difference that would lead $sidebar_left and $sidebar_right to be forever null.

Hello,

i use a design based on bluemarine for phptemplate and have installed flatforum and the modified templates from http://www.drupalart.com/phpbb and for special Design some parts from http://www.drupalcenter.de/forum