Adding static pages that aren't Site Docs

[jamd]

Hi, I'm a relative CC newbie and would really appreciate it if someone would offer their input below as I'm not sure if I've correctly grasped how adding extra pages in CC works....

I would like my site to contain a number of unique-looking static pages that use a different layout to what I'm using for my Site Doc pages. I know there's a mod that lets you have more than one set of Site Docs, but I want to create this particular set of pages from scratch and upload them to the server as actual pages, rather than creating them as Site Docs in the Admin CP.

I don't fully understand PHP and sessions/cookies, but I know that I don't want users to lose their session when they go to these new static pages. I want them to be able to dart around the site, between product pages, Site Docs and these other pages I'm creating, and to remain logged in and with their cart contents intact.

So my question is: is this possible, or do I have to create them as Site Docs to avoid breaking the session?

If it is possible to link to an actual static HTML page without breaking the session...

- can the page be .htm or does it have to be .php?

- does the page need to contain any particular code to keep the session?

- does my hard-coded link to the new page have to have anything appended to the end of the URL to keep the session?

- does the page have to be uploaded inside a certain directory to maintain the session? (e.g. the store directory)

(I should point out that I experimented with it in a test area and it appeared to work and keep the session, but in all honesty I'm not confident/knowledgable enough to know if that is correct behaviour that I can rely on to work for most users regardless of how their cookies are set-up, or if it's just my browser settings. So anything to confirm or shed light on the above would be greatly appreciated.)

TIA.