It all depends on how novice you are, in my opinion. I'd suggest you learn how to program with CGI.pm first, if you haven't already. It'll make dealing with user input, forms, and HTML creation MUCH easier to create and maintain. Plus, it's a good module to start with (at least it was for me) if you're just learning how to use modules.
Next step might be to learn DBI programming, so you can connect your scripts to a database to make saving information about your users easier and more flexible.
As a jumping off point for templating, I'd suggest learning the wonderful HTML::Template module. Here's a great tutorial by the author of HTML::Template, Sam Tregar. Separating your HTML from your code is only a good thing, especially if you're going to allow users some amount of control over your site.
Kind of a big question you're asking, but hopefully this'll give you someplace to start. This advice comes from someone who still kind of considers himself a novice, but can do some pretty neat stuff (ahem. . .) with the above.
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