This took me a HELL of a lot longer than it should have. Things that I need to learn how to do well: -Make folder-style navigational menu -Create "frames" (?) for content on my site so that areas 3-dimensionally protrude from the page's background -Make those frames translucent -Create aesthetically pleasing backgrounds Any criticism and/or helpful links appreciated
To be honest I'm not too much of a fan of dark background sites. But if done correctly, one can pull of some amazing sites by employing a dark background. For one, the navigation menu you have going on here isn't too great. The green font on the pinkish background doesn't work too well for the eyes. You've certainly got the right idea in terms of layout etc. but some colors and smaller details are a little weird here. Another point I would recommend is to add some sort of background to the content area and change the font color accordingly. This is just to make the content stand out a little more rather than have some content floating kind of "randomly" in the middle of no where. I noticed you haven't applied much CSS to the links either. Try changing it from the default blue underline to something more unique. I've seen some really nice effects with links before and a quick Google for some terms can result in some nice tips for your links. You mentioned something about folder tabs. To achieve this properly, you have to change the whole tab size not just the font size for the selected category. But I guess you're on the right track. Overall, you're definitely on the right track, just need some finer tweaks here and there. The one thing I would recommend for you to keep in mind is usability.
I knew this thing wasn't good as I finished it. My problem is that I don't know Photoshop well enough to get my ideas down as I envision them. At my skill-level, it would probably be most helpful for me to see other designers' mockups so that I could get a better idea on common web designs.
You should play around with Photoshop, try and keep trying. Your skill will improve through trial and error. If you don't know what color scheme to be used, you can check out color sites like colourlovers.