leemchildress wrote:
Issue 1: Can I create my own url for each page? Instead of Typo3 creating either a cryptic url or semi-SEF url, can I provide my own?
Yes by using RealURL's Speaking URL management. This allows you to remove or create virtual sub directories too.

leemchildress wrote:
Issue 2: I don't want all menu items to appear on the page. On the homepage, I just want top level menus. On subpages, I only want the top-level menu that pertains to the particular category and its corresponding submenus. Nothing more.
There are few ways to acheive this with Typoscript however I have never tried them. The cleanest would be here.
http://support.typo3.org:8080/jive/thread.jspa?messageID=242313
http://support.typo3.org:8080/jive/thread.jspa?messageID=241349
Alternatively you could simple copy/paste the TS templates provided here and make a change to the directory page ID. This is the quick and dirty way however may not be as manageable for larger sites.
# Top horizontal dropdown menu
#######################################
subparts.TOPNAV = HMENU
subparts.TOPNAV.special = directory
subparts.TOPNAV.special.value = 5
# Vertical Navigation
#######################################
subparts.VERTNAV = HMENU
subparts.VERTNAV.1 = TMENU
subparts.VERTNAV.special = directory
subparts.VERTNAV.special.value = 5
leemchildress wrote:
Issue 3: How do I go about inserting a php script in the middle of my content?
You might want to check this out.
http://typo3.org/extensions/repository/view/lumophpinclude/1.1.1/
Gregory Remington
Mediatech Consulting, Inc.
Phone : +1 (760) 525-1770 Skype: gremington