I'm in the process of planning out a new website for a business. Not knowing squat about these things I am also in the process of hiring someone to do this for me. But, the more I try and educate myself about this, the more confusing things seem to get.
For example, I am told the best way to build a site is using something called CSS. Supposedly far superior to using tables. Is this an accurate statement?
How will using CSS affect the look of the site? And future upgrades, changes, maintenance, etc?
Also of concern to me is Search Engine Optimization. How is this affected by the building process?
Finally, someone I have been talking to someone who has been selling me on the advantages of something called Joomla. Anyone know anything about this? Good? Bad? Ugly?
Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

You're doing the right thing by asking first!

CSS is the current preffered method of building web pages, but it's by no mean essential as web browsers will always support use of tables - the support 'may' one day be dropped but that is many many years away.

CSS does have it's advantages over table based layouts, probably the main one is speeding up page loading times. But it will not make the look of your site any different to a table based one.

Regarding upgrades, changes etc, any decent web designer will be able to make changes for you. Always ask about future costs before buying so you know how much an update will cost. As a point of note make sure you have full access details to your site after you have paid for it, some designers/agencies are reluctant to give you these and try to tie you into expensive maintenance contracts!

Search engine optimisation is more about the actual content names, descriptions and descriptive text, rather than the building process, although there are some standard coding methods which designers follow to ensure search engines recognise headings and emphasized text.

Joomla is a Content Management System - this allows you to login to your site and make changes to your content yourself without having to know anything technical. Joomla is not the only CMS, there are many - each suits a particular purpose/scenario. Your site can be based on a CMS but it depends what type of site you want, and the type of content you have.

For example, I am told the best way to build a site is using something called CSS. Supposedly far superior to using tables. Is this an accurate statement?

You might want to read this article - it will tell the differences and the benefits of CSS over Tables for layout:

http://www.hotdesign.com/seybold/everything.html

How will using CSS affect the look of the site? And future upgrades, changes, maintenance, etc?

CSS will make updates, maintenance and future upgrades/redesigns so much faster. For instance, if you want to change a color scheme, with CSS you change ONE file - the CSS file. With a tables-based layout you must generally change EVERY page. You can see how that gets time consuming and expensive in a hurry.

You should also be concerned with ACCESSIBILITY of the site. Not everyone who surfs the web has 20/20 vision or sees all colors. Target corporation got SUED because their site was inaccessible to the blind and there have been other lawsuits over accessibility issues. You might want to read a bit about it, it is NOT just about the blind using screen readers:
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archiv...accessibility/

Holla at me I'll help you build it I dont mind at all!!!!!

check out my business www.distinctive-graphics.com im sure we can provide you with what you need.