well it all depends on what software, if any, your going to use. theres alot of sites out there offering free layouts and junk, might want to check that out. it take a long time to be able to just write a site out, you gotta know color combos and the moods they create and yea its takes a while. i took web design for a year and by the end of the year my sites looked like shit but they worked pretty well. but just out of curiosity, what is this site going to be for?