[TYPO3-english] Template strategy for new Typo3 user

[Bonneville, Douglas]

Hi: I'm new to Typo3. I've read the Modern and Futuristic tutorials, but
it seems they open as many questions as they answer. I'm a new Typo3
developer and am trying to figure out which way to pursue translating a
current static site into Typo3.

Using the "old" subparts and markers method, I ran into a wall where I
can't find any documentation on how to create my own "areas" rather than
the default "columns" in content.get. If I could define my own areas
instead of "getRight", "getLeft", etc, I'd be well on my way. 

When I looked at TemplaVoila, content area looks more solvable, but then
I read that the FlexForms model can't be used where you have to query
the data for output, since it's all in one big XML blob.

I'm not sure I need autoparser, but I rather do this by hand if I could.

I need to define content types with unique fields (maybe an extended
tt_news) and output them based on categories to specfic areas of a
template.

What is the best strategy? Is there a tutorial anywhere on how to create
custom areas, using Typoscript, to output content to other than the
default 4 cols and without using TemplaVoila?