Hi, I'm making a website. I want it to look professional. I don't want to use templates because I think of that as cheating. I want to be able to make one myself. Whenever I make a web page, it doesn't look very good. If anyone has any tips. Please tell me.

Dont use templates but read design articles

I think for professional website first use websafe color linke blue, green, yellow in RGB Values it shows professionality, try out a fixed width site in all resolutions (especially higher than 1024x768) and see how empty and unprofessional it looks.

for stretch layouts we need to give the width of the table(s) or div(s) in percentage.

Use color formats are decent.
Make correct alignments.
Use your english professionally..
Make decent font in your css file.
I think this color is nice and professional:#6F6754.
Make your hyperlinks without line by using css.
Sure every page in your site is with same alignment.
Use good buttons with decent color.
Dont place too much images in your site.
Use medium size for your default font.
Set page properties to 0.
ALL THE BEST.

The suggestions above are great. I also suggest that you make sure to spend some conceptual time thinking about the site itself:

• Who this site is aimed at
• What a site user will be trying to achieve when they visit your site
• How you can make achieving that goal as easy as possible
• Based on your answers to the things listed above, what the look and feel of the site should be (traditional, techy, flowery, girly, manly, etc.)

I find that if I have a good foundation of understanding of the site, the site visitors, the goals of the site, and how those goals can be achieved, it's much easier to come up with design & programming solutions.

I also recommend browsing around and looking at other sites that you think really capture what you're trying to accomplish. When you find those sites, ask yourself why you like it, and then use that knowledge on your own design. If you think the site does a really good job with big, bold typography, then try applying some of the ideas they do to your own designs. Design Meltdown is a great place to start -- they have tons of good site designs organized into categories and intelligent discussion about the designs themselves.

Also, don't be afraid to borrow ideas from good designs -- all great designers and artists build on the work of those that came before them. Usually when you're starting out, it's a good exercise to imitate and adapt existing designs that you like for your own purposes. As you get more experience, you will develop your own "voice" and will find more people imitating you

Rock on and have fun!

--eric
<URL SNIPPED>
PS - One small design tip -- using CSS to change either the letter spacing or the leading on standard system fonts can dramatically change the feel of the page and make it feel much more professional. Take a look at A List Apart -- nearly all the text on the page uses native browser fonts, but they play with font sizes, leading, and letter spacing to create a strong visual hierarchy and a very professional feel. Plus the site is a pretty good CSS resource

A few tips:

1. Don't put text on top of am image. This is very hard for some people to read.

2. I am totally SICK of websites with curved logos in the upper left corner that then run across the top and down the left edge.

3. I am even sicker of websites covered with moving images. Noting makes me hit the Back button faster.

Moving images are for showing how something works. They have lost all value as an attractive device, because people are sick of being bombarded by them. In addition, some of them make users mad, by taking away navigation control (by using 100% of CPU time).

4. Keep it simple. I have heard websites with too much crowded into a small area being referred to as "angry fruit cocktail."

5. Don't even think of taking control away from the user's browser with tricky programming.

6. Don't use browser-dependent code.

7. If you don't want you site to look different on different browsers, don't put nonzero surrounding styles (margin, border, padding) in any tag or stylesheet entry that has defined sizes (width, height).

8. If you change the link colors, make sure the original colors are still discernible as links. Certain browser accessibility settings remove the ability to change link colors. Instead, design the background so the links show if they are either the standard color or the changed color.

9. Design your colors so they can be seen on older browsers and on monochrome monitors.

10. Make sure it doesn't turn into scramblish on older browsers or text-only systems.

11. Likewise, don't place objects on top of other objects unless you have to.

12. I prefer a table of links to dropdown menus. Moving menus make you mouse around too much.

Thanks for the tips!