Okies, I've mastered the most part of this. Here is a copy of my menu.tpl if anyone needs something to start with. But, I'll warn you - for some reason some of my menus aren't aligned correctly in the right hand side for some reason - so if anyone can help me with that I'd appreciate it greatly
Also, if you use this menu.tpl for a start, don't forget to go into each .tpl (ex. help.tpl) to change the image for the dingbat to your own and config the size as well if needed. And you may need to go into the home.tpl to change some sizes there if your text overlaps to the edge of your background image.
Code:
<TABLE border=0 cellPadding=0 cellSpacing=0 width="159">
<TR>
<TD class=VertMenuTitle height=26>{$link_begin}[img]{$ImagesDir}/{$dingbats}[/img]{$link_end}</TD>
{if $link_href}
<TD class=VertMenuTitle height=26 width=129 background="{$ImagesDir}/menu_1_b.gif">
<font class=VertMenuTitle>{$menu_title}</font></TD>
{else}
<TD class=VertMenuTitle height=26 width=129 background="{$ImagesDir}/menu_1_b.gif"><font class=VertMenuBoxNewsTitle>{$menu_title}</font></TD>
{/if}
</TR>
<TR>
<TD colspan="2" class=VertMenuBox background="{$ImagesDir}/left_nav_bg.gif">
<p style="margin-left: 18; margin-right: 16">{$menu_content}
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD colspan="2" class=VertMenuBox background="{$ImagesDir}/index_55.gif" width="159" height="24" border=0></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
Hugs*
CallieJo