Yes, you need to know design. Even if you hire a designer, you'll be better off in understanding what you're paying for, being able to maintain the site they d

Yes, you need to know design. Even if you hire a designer, you'll be better off in understanding what you're paying for, being able to maintain the site they deliver (and being able to tell if what they give you is maintainable). I learned design by reading a bit on CSS, JS, and reverse engineering & imitating sites that have a certain effect I'm trying to get. Firebug is awesome. jQuery is awesome. Blueprint CSS might be what you need, or it might get in the way, but give it a try. Oh, and don't be afraid to break the "rules". If your page looks and works the way you want, you win, even if you used (gasp!) tables.