Thanks all. I think I'm less confused now. It sounds like TTL itself stands for "through the lens" which is pretty meaningless to a noobie like me. I don't understand (or personally much care) what it means for film cameras but the meat of what TTL apparently means (to me) for digital is that there is a sensor looking "TTL" to determine how much to tell your strobe to flash. Strobes can be set on TTL or manual before taking a picture. If it's on manual, it will flash at the intensity that you tell it to, e.g., 1/2, 1/4, 1/6 etc. to reduce the brightness on your subject. Depending on the aperture and shutter speed chosen, you may want to dim down the lights. You have to do some math and guessing if you do all that on manual mode but if you are using the TTL technology, the camera should be able to tell the strobe the right amount of flash to use to get the best results. Unfortunately, digital cameras of different makes talk to their strobes with different languages so you have to make sure your brand of camera can communicate properly with your strobe. It's best to do this before buying both. Finally, although TTL is designed to give the best results, many people believe it doesn't and that "artistic" lighting can only be obtained through manual strobe settings.
At least that's what I am understanding now. Correct me at your own peril though - the next person who confuses with better information will get strobe-whipped. :bsmilie: