Setting up a custom template may seem daunting, but once you start playing with it, you'll get the hang of it. If you make changes to the files you received with ZC, your work will be lost with the next upgrade/update, so you're much better off playing around with the override system.
To create a very basic custom template (you can build from there), you need:
- includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE/english.php
- includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/index.php
- includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/header.php (to change the logo)
- includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/template_info.php
- includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/common/tpl_header.php
- includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/common/tpl_footer.php
- includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/images/logo.gif
- includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/css/stylesheet.css
Anywhere you see a /classic/ folder, you can create a folder for your custom template. You can copy the necessary files from either the /classic/ folder, the /template_default/ folder or the parent folder.
Edit includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/template_info.php to give your template identifying information so you'll recognize it in the admin under tools->template selection.
If you'd rather try a predesigned template, there are free ones in the download section. Visit http://(sorry, site offline)/ to see them in action.