I'm an engineer, but picked up enough design sense and CSS to be dangerous. After designing several sites I can confidently say I suck, but not more than 50% of

I'm an engineer, but picked up enough design sense and CSS to be dangerous. After designing several sites I can confidently say I suck, but not more than 50% of the professional designers out there. Good design is hard. The problem is it's hard for many who claim to be designers as well, so unless you're willing to pay for a good designer you'll end up with crap. - Read the "non designer's design book" by Robin Williams. Pay particular attention to typography, spacing, and keeping it simple and minimal. - Don't go for the gradients and other fancy techniques; just concentrate on getting the basics right. - Get your color scheme and spacing right and apply it consistently. - Use a grid. To sum up: hire someone good to do it for you. If you can't afford that then read/learn and stick to a minimal design and you'll be ok.