The hardest barrier to novices is the template dsesign. Template is equivalent to a theme or a skin used in other CMSs. Template is not easily switched like we do in others. Templates are written in "TypoScript", which is not a scripting programming language, but rather a tree-structured parameter description language. 

Anyway, writing your own template is not meant for novices. Although many template units, or snippets, are provided, it's not like just selecting a theme. Even for novices, after selecting a template such as "template, business", which is used in the QuickStart package, yet we have to write at least two kinds of typoscripts. Moreover, the problem is that those templates only give us two-part (top-page, or left-right), or three-part (top-left-right) frames. If such frames are ok, then you are ready to go.

How to make a front page design with 5-part configuration: a header, left-center-right columns, and a footer, which seems to be a common motif recently?

Install an extension called "HTML/CSS Styling" and a companion document module, "Introductory and useful TYPO3 with HTML/CSS Styling".

Steps to do are the following (nearly acceptable to novices):

1) Install "CSS Styled content" and "Template Auto-parser" beforehand.

2) Install "HTML/CSS Styling".

3) Make pages as a page tree (Initially, import samplepagetree.t3d as explained in the above animation and study how to use a shared front page contents.)

4) Create a template record at the root page

5) In the template record, at "include static (from extensions)", add two items: css Styled Content and HTML/CSS Styling and save it.

6) Edit stylesheet_main.css used by this extension to change the header image and finetune the page.

The result is a website online, which, as you may find, is very similar to a Drupal bluemarine site.