I feel like I can improve vastly on my "pages". Can anyone give me some feedback on this: What would you change on the design/style to make these articles/pages look better/professional/ and more clean? (this is using the new style that is currently not default for Writer's Beat)
It really depends on what your visitors want. If it's too professional it can scare people off. My site is deliberately "non professional" looking because it suits the subject and the readership and that's the way we like it. If I was offering paid services I might change the design to make it look as if I was competent but not frighteningly so. My husband just came and looked over my shoulder and said your design looks alright to him and it looks professional enough.
Looks good to me apart from one thing, you should float the top image(december issue) either to left or right and let the text float next to it. So much empty whitespace doesn't look good. And don't forget get spaccing between the text and the image. Oh and increase the line height by one or two pixels.
I hate the paper look. Try a clean, white line, with a grained/wooden abckground. Its all a bit big and clumsy. Theres no elegance
Personally, I dont think the paper looks very realistic, or even suits it. I dont like the rough edges either. Sorry. Ive never been a fan of copy-paper backgrounds