Hi,
The "best" method to play with template creation, is to concurrently use the template editor to make changes and use the Auctiva one-page lister to display the changes as they would appear in an active listing. That's a simple matter of using two windows: one for the template editor and one for the listing editor.
5 to 9 photos probably would fill the empty space for the left column. Again, the only concern might be the width of the resulting listing in meeting width restrictions and/or a scroll-bar that may appear in the New Design for listing that's currently under beta. The code is already exceeding 1100pix width (700px for that large pic at top plus about 200px on either side), when 930 is probably close to a good limit for width. ebay has narrowed the view page in the new design. If you are a Seller with active listings, you probably have the ability to view your current listings in the new design for reference.
Because the images the template has precoded have a nice double-gold border, I'd use the URL tags at 400x300. In your case, the resulting pics should show at about 225W x 300H (height being the image restriction). The URL tag to use is [IMAGE_URL400x300]. The drop-down list at lower-left on the template editor has the ability to select the image tag type. You'll see that tag listed as "400x300Image URLs". The template has documentation for adding the pics with comment code ( <!--ADD PICTURE blah blah --> ). Here's a sample before and after of your code vs. an image tag replacement.
<img src="http://....sample-pic1.gif" style="border: double 3px; border-color: #f3e9d1">
<img src="[IMAGE_URL400x300]" style="border: double 3px; border-color: #f3e9d1>
The Auctiva one-page lister will substitute that tag for the URL of an Auctiva or any server (like photobucket) stored image. You use the tags from 1 to 24 for each image you'd want. I'd suggest using 1 to 10 for your requirement. I see that the design already has 4 pics in that left column, so you could easily start with those 4 for tag subsitition and use real images in the one-page lister for testing. Hope that makes sense.
I'm recommending that URL tag to keep the design of the template intact and that specific tag is for a stored image that should meet the size restrictions. Again, hope that makes sense.
If you want to post the changes to the practicewriter, I'll try to feedback tips and suggestions. I'll see if I can work code for a dynamic box loader (seems I recently developed that for another Auctiva member).
I will look at the original template you posted for any reasons the current posts might be missing code or having problems. I know I saw a missing "Class" definition on one of yesterday's.
Ask questions if I'm going to fast or you don't understand. This isn't necessariliy simple stuff. Keep going. You're making good progress.
BTW...which version of Frontpage are you using?
Dan