Even though i’m a software developer by trade, i dont bother writing my own php for the types of sites i need. I prefer to use open source cms/forum applications that are tried and tested with tens of thousands of man hours worth of development time.
A good site to find a suitable php application is at xhttp://www.opensourcecms.com. They have demos and reviews of most of the popular packages.
A new book that was recently launched by one of the developers of WordPress is “Building Online Communities with Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress”. I havent read it yet but it may be what you need to get up and running with three of the most popular open source applications for forums, blogging and content management. You can buy the book as a pdf at xhttp://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10031 (This is not an affiliate link).
Btw, WordPress is a very good example of using CSS instead of tables for page layouts.
Don’t give up on learning php though, its always handy to know when it comes time to modify whatever open source apps you are working with.
You can PM me as well if you need any help.