Creating WYSIWYG page and chunk templates

I don’t think this is for the template and themes forum, but maybe I’m wrong. I’m trying to figure out how to make a site foolproof for a client to update. I read up on page templates and think I have a bit of a grasp, but am missing some things. I also want to know about creating chunks for templates. Let me give you an example.

I’m working on a site for a nursery: the flower type. Say I want to create a page template for a flower type. Is there a way for me to make the, say, page for roses and copy that as a template where they can just upload a different picture and change the text for lilies? Or, do I have to write all the PHP by hand and use it for each? I’m trying to make this as easy on them as possible, even if it means more work and education on my end. (the info I found is here, but doesn’t really cover what I’m asking)

Next up is chunks to template. One page template might be for vegetables. So, maybe I’ll make a page template like the one for each flower, but it looks different. More importantly, I want a template to use to create a page called “peppers”, but I want to have chunks I can insert for each variety of pepper on a single page.

For example, the MysiteMyWay templates have a bunch of shortcodes for items. Here’s an example. Let’s say I want to have a template chunk that creates a box like that, inserts an image placeholder the user will change aligned left, has some placeholder text, and inserts another styled box with a small table for planting time, amount of sun/shade, planting depth, etc. These chunks would then be used and re-used.

The problem with shortcodes (that I’ve seen, anyway) is that they don’t show up in any form of WYSIWYG, which would be extremely helpful for my customer. I tried to attach a capture of basically what I’d like to provide them as a template they could just duplicate and easily change out the image and text, but don’t see a way. Instead, here’s a link to a capture on Flickr.

Hope that’s clear. If not, please let me know.

Thank you.