Color schemes for looks

I thinks its going to be hard to tell you how to make something look appealing. There are a lot of factors..such as color, size, fonts, images, layout, etc..

How about if you visit some of the sites that you find the top banner to look nice, then just view the source code (right click on the browser, view source), so you can get a better idea how the layout was designed and how the use of styles makes the banner look pleasing.

If you are looking for just color schemes (and play around with them), have a look at the Adobe Kuler website.

Thanks for the replys, JorgeM is it even possible to view other websites css style sheets, I can see their source code.
and priteaes thanks for the website its very useful.

is it even possible to view other websites css style sheets

Yes of course. Since your browser requires it, you must be able to see it. Anything that is client side (html, css, javascript, and images) is going to be accessible, unlike server-side code such as PHP.

When you look at the source code, you can see the reference to the stylesheet. For example, if the reference is "/styles/style.css", then you could get to it by typing in the URL, http://www.domain.com/styles/style.css. Some browsers, such as Google Chrome, will automatically create the hyperlinks for you when looking at the source code so you just click on the reference and the browser opens up a new tab or window with the results.

While I am not encouranging you to copy other people's code, you can at least take a look when trying to determine how things work.