Using Wordpress will also ensure your CSS renders properly in all browsers.

Thank you all for the responses. php include does seem like the more flexible solution. In the meantime I also watched Stefan's videos on php include, so I should be good to go.

I read through Stephan's CSS tutorials and watched his video, and even managed to replicate the example CSS-styled web page.

Question is, what if I want that left column with its navigation links to appear on more than one page?

I tried the php "include" command on a test site, but it looked like the contents of the included file did not appear in the code. This means the contents would not be visible to a search engine spider. Am I right?

On the other hand, if I set up templates in Dreamweaver, I don't have to create any include files, and spiders would be able to read all the code. Is that a good option?

If it looks like I'm totally in a fog - you're right!:D