I am a moderately capable web developer. I can put stuff where I want it to go a

Question

I am a moderately capable web developer. I can put stuff where I want it to go and put some JQuery stuff in there if I need to. However, if I am making my own website (which I am starting to do) I have no idea how to design it. If someone was to sit next to me a point to the screen and say "put this picture there, text there" I can do that quite easily. But designing my own site with my choice of colours and text will look like a toddler has invented it.

Does anyone know any websites/books I can look at or has anyone got any tips on the basics of non-toddler web design?

Explanation / Answer

You have a few things to do.

Tips:

Learn to use Photoshop. (In particular, layer styles are excellent. Just note that they can be difficult effects to reimplement in CSS2) It goes a long way towards making good mockups.

Look at professionally designed sites. What sites have you been to that look nice to you?

Find sites that bother you and consider what could make it better. Look at product advertisements as well. Food packaging. Newspaper ads. You name it.

Also, once you start getting the hang of it, practice, practice, practice. Graphics takes time to develop as a skill, especially from a programmer who has coding to consider. (Gradients vs "tileability")

Tools:

(Photoshop is a personal favorite. Paint.NET is a good Windows alternative, but is not quite as powerful.)

Nathan Smith's 960 grid system. It has templates for many of the mainstream graphics programs. Check it out.

References:

Look at some of these sites: (I've seen more, I'll try to add as I come across them)

A List Apart
John McCain
BarackObama.com
Hayon2010.com (Okay, I made this one, but I think that it's nice. edit: I'd appreciate comments on it too. ;-D)

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