How to create a customized template?

Hi all,

I have gone through the the forum and have only become more confused.
What I want to do is create a template that will carry through all my subalbums. This template ought to conform to what my other .html pages look like. The basic layout of the pages is a table with a header at the top and bottom and content in the middle. I have tried to stick the albums.php code in the middle of this table and only results in formating errors and does not carry through to sub albums.

Also, could someone tell me what the benefits of using phpnuke and jhead are in gallery?

From my reading, jhead seems only useful if i transfer files from a digicam and need to compress the file?? and nukephp is used for automating administration? I am sorry if these questions seem rudimentary. I have checked the respective web sites, i was hoping someone could let me know how these apps apply DIRECTLY to gallery.

thanks all,
khurram.