HTML/Page Design
In a lot of cases, Zaapt doesn't actually care about the actual page design nor HTML implementation. The reason for this is because it is layout agnostic - or in reality, all HTML layout can be overriden and changed.
After playing with some CMS's in the past which forced lots and lots of HTML and CSS down your throat, I decided that Zaapt would give you a minimal set of HTML, enough to get you started, but easy enough to override. You get absolutely no CSS at all (thought Zaapt may add a few class names here and there (these should be documented).
What should I tell my designer?
You can tell her to be herself and design in whichever way makes them happy. Of course, you may want to give guidelines such as whether to place all images, css and js in the same directory (so you can put Expires headers on them easily enough), but even then, that's not necessary.
For example, if you want to practice getting Zaapt to show different designs, just go to OSWD, Open Web Design or Open Designs, download a few templates and make them work.
I have found that, the main template is easy enough to rip out and put the content in the middle. You may also want to place a news or a blog widget somewhere which constantly updates with the latest news or blog entry.
Many times, the only widget you need to override in your site's Mason components are the menu ones since they are the ones that vary most from site to site.
If you need to override any other rendering or widget components, then just go ahead.
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