Date: 09/23/07 (WebDesign)    Keywords: php, html, asp, web

Hello! I'm here with a request for help.

I've been designing personal websites for about 7-8 years now. Lately I've been feeling pretty unhappy with what I'm creating. Due to being busy with school, I've fallen behind on coding practices and don't really use PHP or newer HTML forms/styles. Coding has always been my favorite part of maintaining sites, so this is a bit stressing (not to mention embarrassing).

However, I am struggling the most with the design aspect of website creation. I'm wondering if any readers/posters here could point me in the direction of resources (eg tutorials, tips, gallery examples) of how to design good graphics. I'm concerned that I'm missing the basic elements of this process, such as what makes a good layout, how to do popular effects in a graphics program, little things of which the designer should be aware, and so forth. I know my way around Paint Shop Pro 7 (that's the limit of my abilities, I'm afraid), so I don't necessarily need an introduction to the tools available... but more or less how to use those tools to create aesthetic graphics.

In other words, any resources available (preferably for free, but if you have a book that'd you'd really recommend I would appreciate that, too) concerning design or possibly PHP would be wonderful.

Thanks so much in advance!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/webdesign/1313454.html