Cs Cart customisation

I have installed and partially set up the cart for my needs though need help with setting up the header as I dont understand smarty php and would also like to integrate some add ons that apparently are fairly simple to merge with the program. I will also need help integrating the payment gateways. Basically put, i need assistance in several general areas though the tpl files are giving me the most trouble. Please only reply if you are familar with Cs cart and or tpl files (smarty PHP).