>> WEB TeMPLATe <<

that cool home page is good to show to the University staff, so they could pick their style

but any good site that offer good web template

and some offer PSD file, how much I have to know about Photoshop to manipulate those generic diagram

how about layering and mouseover effect, is it enough for me to know (in photoshop)

I had to put unclassified answer. Although we've never done that before, we're about to start offering about 30 or so templates for a much-discounted price. This will not be what we mention first, of course.

I have to agree with Megan wholeheartedly. Definitely don't take someone else's design without permission. Now, that's completely different from being inspired by someone else's design. I often surf template sites and coolhomepages.com to look at sites. But once I've found inspiration (in the form of a small thumbnail, generally), I close that off and embark on my own design, not looking at my inspiring page again.

As far as using a template for a university, it really depends how big the university is. If it's not too big, sure, why not? But you should, over time, grow out of it by continuously tweaking it to better fit your university. Personalize it.

I don't think it's a good idea to be copying someone else's work without permission. Sure, it's fine to borrow bits and pieces, but not an entire design.

What sort of a university are you doing this for? I work at a university so I'm just wondering. We have thousands of pages, maintained by many different people across campus, that all need to have the same look and feel. It's a big undertaking.

Generally speaking, I don't think a purchased template would be suitable for a university.