> I am not sure where the OpenLayers code goes? I felt that I could use
> the code to customize GeoNode's look and feel and make use of the
> customization features on the Web Page, but to publish the Map you
> receive a embed link which only gives you the Map and not the other
> features.

You could get GeoNode's source and customize the map viewers. The source code can be found at [Github][1].

> If we have to use OpenLayers separately, like in the HTML, I am not
> sure, How to run that static html file, since the localhost is being
> used by the GeoNode.

GeoNode has a Geoserver component. You could make your own OpenLayers-based viewer and just add the layers from GeoNode's Geoserver component. 

It can be rather hard to customize GeoNode though. The codebase is huge. Should you want to get started with client development first, you might want to check the [OpenGeo client SDK][2]. It has the components they used to build GeoExplorer, GeoEditor and even the GeoNode map viewer, I believe.


  [1]: https://github.com/GeoNode/geonode
  [2]: http://suite.opengeo.org/docs/usermanual/tutorials/clientsdkintro/index.html