Hmm..that does not seem to change the error at all, but it does of course alter the spry menu formatting. (shrinks)
Please check out this short video I just made, it’s showing that normally (in Non-Live View) there is a gap between the banner & Spry, which I’m used to seeing – but when you change to Live View it always resolves itself and tightens up the space so there is no space between.
It’s like mine is backwards. It shows a flush, tight alignment in regular view, and when you switch to Live View, then the gap appears. I can’t solve it 
I wish I knew more.
We develop a CMS used mostly by web designers and design agencies, so we get to speak with and work with lots of designers, plus we have a fairly good overview of the market and what’s required.
I agree with all the replies here, particularly CaldwellYSR, you really need to be able to offer a content managed website option, as the majority of clients these days realise they need a content managed website, and if you can’t offer that then you will almost certainly lose out to other designers and agencies who can.
There most likely will still be occasions where just the design is required on its own, but it’s so important to regularly update a website, and it doesn’t make sense for you to be constantly doing that for a client when there are effective content management systems out there enabling clients to do it themselves.
The one plug I’ll say for my company (hope that’s ok!), is that we provide all the expertise and support for the content management part, meaning you can continue to just focus on the design and we take care of everything else – which basically means you can continue to do exactly what you want to do (design), but still approach clients with confidence that you can handle any content management or really any programming requirement.
Any other CMS questions, I’ll be happy to try to answer (and not just to plug our system!).