Are you getting into web development or are you just trying to do a website? The only reason I am asking is so that I know what advice to give you. If you are looking to get into the whole scene, understanding HTML and CSS is like basics. Knowing how they work together will help you when designing a template in photoshop. You can think of it as reverse engineering kinda. You design a flat image in photohop, but then you have to tear it up into pieces and rebuild pretty much. For me, when I design something, I think about how I am going to rebuild it first.
If you are just trying to get a website done, you can use the most common programs. These are either Frontpage or Dreamweaver. Both have "Code" and "Design" views and I would recommend using the "design" view. This will give you a preview image as you are working on it. And I would go with tables. I never use tables, but if it were just about ease, tables work.
Most people design their layouts in PS, but that doesn't mean that they get the end result without any coding, that's quite impossible. I mean, you could make the entire website out of pictures. All graphics and text would be on a flat image file and you would have to update the images if you wanted to change any text or photos. But theres so many reasons why you would not want to follow that path.
I would suggest that you figure out how exactly you will splice your layout and break it apart and start with just using HTML. You don't really have to worry about CSS to get the job done, and it will at least get you rolling. When you build a site with a "design" mode in Dreamweaver or Frontpage, you can switch to the "code" view and see how the code is changing as you are building it. It's a great way to understand and learn what's going on behind the scenes. Once you are somewhat comfortable with that, look into CSS and see what it can do for you..
Hope that helps!
