All you need is Notepad or your favorite text editor. THere are programs out there, but they are tools, they don’t do the design for you – you need to know html, css and have an understanding of wordpress tags and enough php so you don’t break something.
Artisteer.com is great and easy.
By the way you can download free premium wordpress themes at http://free-premium-wordpress-themes.happyamazon.com/
ANY good web editor will work and the knowledge of HTML/CSS and PHP would be needed. Some JavaScript possibly.
Designing for WordPress – Complete Series & Downloads: http://css-tricks.com/designing-for-wordpress-complete-series-downloads/
How to Make Wordpress Themes (video): http://themetation.com/2008/07/14/how-to-create-wordpress-themes-from-scratch-part-1/
Template Tags: http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags
Editing Files: http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_Files
How to install a WordPress Theme (Video): http://www.thewordpress.com/?p=2259
WordPress CSS:
How to Edit a WordPress CSS File: http://www.ehow.com/how_2006995_edit-wordpress-css.html
Custom CSS: http://en.wordpress.com/products/custom-css/
Editing CSS: http://en.support.wordpress.com/editing-css/
Ron
All you need is Notepad or your favorite text editor. THere are programs out there, but they are tools, they don’t do the design for you – you need to know html, css and have an understanding of wordpress tags and enough php so you don’t break something.