Enzie, if you just want to change color or font or some other format you can use CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, but I suspect you want to attack the content more than the form.
When I cobbled together my first site (
http://mauriceriver.igc.org ) in '96 it was definitely a process of trial and error and it looks pretty crude now. And my first portrait site was something I made myself, too. But I wanted a more professional look without having to spend the time relearning all that html, so I ended up paying a webmaster to redo it.
More power to you for putting up an award-winning site by yourself! Anyway, what is it that you want to change? I'll bet there are plenty of people here who could help you with shortcuts.