Is what I want possible?

Question

I started a website for my writer's group using iWeb and never expected it to take off like it has. It was meant to be a resource for my fellow writers in the group and a way for us to stay connected and up to date with one another and has turned into much more with constant requests for this or that to be added to the site.
I have very little knowledge of HTML and the things that I want to do with the site seem fairly reasonable if only I could figure out how to do them, have someone show me, or even tell me whether they are available or not (so I can come up with a creative way around them).
First, I want to Expand some of the pages and change some of the templates.
I use the "blog" page within my template to post things like news for the group and tips and tricks of the writer's trade. However, in the particular template that I use there are borders that I can't seem to get rid of. I delete the "example" text boxes and still a line remains on my screen that cannot be deleted and my content wraps around it no matter what I try. Therefor, I have to fill that space with useless junk that doesn't need to be there just so it remains aesthetically pleasing and gives the semblance of my knowing what I'm doing.
I would use a "blank" page to do this, but then I would have to forfeit the ease of just typing the news as a blog entry, having it archived, and giving the group the benefit of leaving comments.
Which leads me to my second issue.
I want to take the first entry or two of my "blog (aka "news" on my site) and have it displayed on my home page so that group members can get a small taste of the news right from the home page before they have to click on this and that to be directed here then there.
In my personal opinion (and limited experience) it seems that if it's not readily available on the home page, people will not seek it out and spend much time looking at, or reading, what is available.
However, when I copied the text box that contained the short summaries of all of my "blogs" and pasted it on the home page, it was no longer "active" (i.e. when I posted new "blogs" they did not appear on the home page as I had wished). Now, every time I add a new blog, I must delete the entries on the home page, go back, copy the entries on the "blog" page and re-paste them on the home page. It's a lot of work and when I post two or three blog entries a day it gets very annoying. Is there a way that I can make the new blogs appear right on the home page? (That would be a HUGE help, right there.)
Three: A long time ago, I worked with another "web builder" and was able to have polls or comments left right there on the web page. I could construct my own surveys or forms to fill out and when the individual clicked on "submit" an email was delivered to my inbox with the information they submitted. I have no idea how to do this in HTML and in the web builder software I used it was simply a drag and drop option (or field). But that was many a PC ago and I was excited to have that option with iWeb only to be disappointed that I could not find it. If it's available, please, tell me where I could find it. I would certainly use it.
Finally, is there a way to add some kind of "section break" to the page so that if you add something above that break everything below it automatically moves down?
I see that at the footer of the page (where the counter and the "Made on a Mac" icon reside) it does automatically move down when new content is added, but if I add content to the top of the page I must manually select everything and drag it down. I would LOVE to add page breaks to a good three or four sections on the page so that I can add and subtract from them to them to my hearts delight and not have to worry about if the rest of my page is overlapping or there is an outrageous space left in the deleted contents absence.
So far those are my questions and I would greatly appreciate any feedback available.
In advance, thank you.

Answer 1

phew, that took long to read! your a writer i can see!
1. the problem with the textboxes should not matter. first, when you click on the textbox, small grey or white boxes are at the corners - the grey ones are pre-set and you cannot delete them! on the other hand, the white ones you can.
then, you do not have to paste something in there! you can just leave them blank and remove the background and border. If, as you said, a small grey border surrounds them - they will not appear on your online site! they are just for organisation. therefore, in iweb, when you go: view/hide or show layout -->>the grey border should dissappear!
2. you can just make a blog page as the "entrance page." using the inspector, you can choose the length of the exerpts of each blog entry and so you can give others a taste of your entries. the automatically made buttons will then link to the according entry.
NOW TO THE HOMEPAGE PROBLEM - i think what you want is:
when someone opens their page, they see little boxes of previous blog entries!
you can do this by just deleting your current "entrance page" and making the blog page as your "entrance page." this ensures you of not having to copy your blog text and links getting inactive. (see above)
3. if you want comments or attachments to be enabled, you just go to the inspector and go to the blog/podcast tab (RSS) and tick the little boxes - which allow attachments and comments. Yet this feature only works with .Mac (it can be added through HTML - but i think you do not like to!!!)
The survey part does not work! no explanation
4. No there are no section breaks! you have to higlight all the parts and move the down manually! although good idea, never though of it!
As you seem to get started with iWeb, i recommend you take a look at these links:
iWeb FAQ's
http://web.mac.com/varkgirl/iWeb/iWebFAQ
How to Use the Inspector:
http://web.mac.com/will.englefield/iWeb/WillG4PB/SiteTab.html
Video Tutorials (although i recommend you wait 3 days and i will bring up better versions and more)
http://karreth.com/iweb/Home.html
hope that helped!
max