I'm trying to do two things that I think should be reasonably easy to do, and as a not-great coder, I don't want to get too far into screwing around with css.php or other theme files before I ask around (I have been searching for a while on here for some solutions).

The site I'm working on is http://www.ichingstargarden.com.

The second thing I'm trying to do is create an easy, fairly automatic/intuitive way to have two content areas on every page and post.

I have tried the div up content plug-in but failed to make it work for me so far - think I'm maybe not savvy enough to code it or perhaps not understanding how to incorporate it with the Atahualpa theme - and I checked out Juggledad's template but it seems to just call posts - is this right? At the moment, I'm forcing the copy to sit in, well, the copy area (gray field) by setting parameters in the body area in "style posts and pages" in Atahualpa. But I want for me - or my client, who's 70 and totally not going to do any coding beyond maybe a shortcode - to be able to easily add or change content on the right side as well as the left - probably slideshows and video, but possibly also special callout box features - in any page OR post.

I think some of you out there will have a bit more wisdom about better approaches for solving this than I do.

Div-up content seemed like a plugin that was going to solve all my problems, but I ain't gettin anywhere with that...

I'm also wondering if I would do better to buy ThemeFrame and make this design in it, instead of trying to customize Atahualpa so intensively... I want to buy it, but am wondering whether it will serve this project better than Atahualpa and therefore mean I should buy it NOW, or whether I can wait till I get paid, haha.

Thanks in advance!

I'm trying to do is create an easy, fairly automatic/intuitive way to have two content areas on every page and post

The backend post/page editors are totally under the cntrol of WordPress and are not a theme function. While a theme can add some information to the process, there is only one place to put the text that is the page. To split it into two sectns you can make it two div's or you could make it a one row table with two columns, BUT NO MATTER WHAT, it is not going to be an 'easy' thing for the user to update.

If I read you right, you would like to have two completely seperate areas in the editor that would then display in the two areas of the page/post when someone looks at the front end.

This is not something that Wordpress provides out of the box. Could it be changed - yes and there may even be a plugin to do it, but it doesn't have anything to do with any theme that I know of (but then again there are a lot of themes out there).

oh yeah, even ThemeFrame wouldn't give you two areas in the editor since it only creates themes and doesn't modify the editor.

Juggledad, thanks - I'll work on a Div solution I think, and so appreciate your taking the time. This is sort of what I feared, and I think I have to go back to div-up content (the plugin) and just work with it some more. short code will be reasonable...

Just having an easier method to make columns would work as well, so I'm also wondering about this since you have a template that seems to sort that out but only for posts? Would it be possible to tweak this for use with pages, or make an additional template I could base upon the original, but for page content, that would show up in the drop-down template menu?

And if anyone else had tips on using div-up content with Atahualpa and/or WP (I think it involves, though, some code editing so would think I had to put it in Atahualpa, in additional CSS/HTML, or header file or whatever), I'd still be super grateful to hear about that. This plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/divup-content/

I of course considered converting the right side to a large sidebar, with the content area at left, but that could really only be temporary as I need to be able to have different content on different pages and posts, of course.

If I run out of time I'll just make tables and manage it all myself till I work out another solution, just wanted to check with brainiacs first.

one other idea would be to use two custom fields labeled 'left-part' and 'right-part' and have them put their info in them. Then use a page template to automatically build the two div and populate them with the contents of the two fileds.

The user will just have to know not to put stuff in the normal page text area.

OK this is a great idea, too.
I've just started sussing out divup content and realize my big failing was just not understanding how it worked because I'm not super CSS fluent yet. I did a lot more reading and have figured out enough to use it - I think I could recommend it to other luddites with A BIT of sense who might be seeking a similar solution, though the templating option really appeals to me as a concept. the support/usage for divup is here: http://www.sebastianwebb.co.uk/wordpress-plugins.html and if you're a bit slow, but not a total novice, you should be able to read this page and comprehend it, just like I did, and make a start with setting up different content areas in the main content area that is a bit "safer" for your client to edit, with the explicit instructions not to remove or screw with the shortcode, and where to stick changed content to make it appear where they want (before or after particular shortcode).