you could check out http://www.colourlovers.com/ for some color inspiration.

I don't think that there's really a hard-and-fast rule as far as the "best" layout goes, so long as you make it straightforward and east to understand.

yep color lovers is a great site. Another tool that helps is adobe kuhler. But yeah, there are no hard and fast rules"....

You layout all depends on how you want your site to function, how you want to present the content, how you want the user to interact with your site, etc. a lot goes into it...that's what the planning and brainstorming/sketchin phase is for...just jump in and go to it! There's just no right answer to what your asking - as it is our job as designers do get there.

Layout-wise I would suggest you have a look at major players such as ebay, amazon, apple etc. These are the sites that most people use every day, trying to stick to what they do (for button locations, logins and functionality) is always a good idea. You don't want people to have to learn your site because most of them won't, they'll just press the back button!

yah, copy the major sites. Make sure everything is in the same place. Do the same thing that people are used to seeing every day to the point where they yawn when they look at your site as just another site. People are a little more web-savvy than that these days. Or I'd like to think so...

Can I ask a question of the OP? The question you ask is horribly basic yet carries with it the notion that there is one set rule and one set idea and one basic layout/color combination. And staying away from flash. The question I have is, are you a skilled web coder looking to learn design, or are you starting from ground zero and figuring on opening a business real 'soon'?

People find comfort in what they are used to so this isn't bad of advice at all. So long as your not copying the exact layout. Patterns exist in web design that make sites more usable and accessible. There is nothing wrong using those patterns to create a more comfortable and familiar experience. In fact its probably encouraged by most.

Patterns exist in the way people read and react. If you rely more on the mechanics of vision and tracking, rather than what's been done before, maybe most websites wouldn't look like they all came from the same basic template. I've found that sites that are more difficult to navigate are so because they don't track naturally or have inconvenient decision-making processes.

For example not having a Back-to-top button when needed or having the Next button in your slide show move around rather than stay static.

There's a few ways to choose a colour scheme

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_scheme

Depends how many colours you want to use and the implementation of the colours.

Thank you for your many replies. I will look at those sites and see if I can find something which I like.

I haven't assumed that there are set ways of doing things, just ways of designing better than another way. I wondered what would be a visually appealing site, for example, or a site that is easily navigatable.

PrintDriver, I am not looking to open up any business and I am not an experienced coder, but I am doing a course for A Level which encorperates Web Design and I thought I would get a head start and try to attain a better grade. I am staying away from flash because I don't have any idea where to start with it, and I also cannot afford to purchase it, either. I got Dreamweaver and Photoshop cheaper through my school, but they do not offer the same for any other program like Illustrator or Flash. I've had the trials and they have gone, so I can't use those. And I'm pretty much starting from Ground Zero, I have a little knowledge on Coding, and can use Photoshop pretty handily, but I don't know about making a visually appealing website.

Thanks again, everyone!


EDIT: If anyone is interested, this is what I have so far: http://www.definition-designs.co.uk/ (Navbar links are redundant, they are just there to fill space to show what it would look like..)

Website crit

colourlovers is useful