I'm planning on designing a website which is both easy to use and looks good, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do that.

I try to make a unique looking layout, but it just becomes a pain to edit and maintain.

The site I'm working on will have pages with just text on, pages with image thumbnails/descriptions, and pages with hyperlinks.

I'm pretty well versed in XHTML and CSS, so I can probably code whatever you'd recommend without much trouble.

Fire away. :D

Everything i've tried just ends up going down the pan. >.>

Thanks. ^^

Use a CMS system to update and maintain your website. I highly recommend it.

Like with hosting there isn't "the best", it's what best suits you. What type of site are you making? Industry etc. because this will depend a lot upon a theme.

I dont really want to use a CMS. :(

It's an art site, which deals with all types of art, including web design, so I want to use my own design, you know?

:P

Hey jamesyfx (cool name btw :p)

A CMS is a Content Management System, and still allows you to use your own design. A Content Management System just lets you control your content and such through an interface so u dont need to constantly upload changed HTML files a bunch of times to update your content. You should probably use something simple like http://www.phpnuke to start out because lots of people know how to modify a design to work with it, and it is easy to use.

How many pages do you plan to have on your site ?

I wouldn't use PHPNuke, try Mambo or Xoops

Or try http://www.wonko.com/poseidon/ it's very simple yet effective.

CMS is definitely a good and idea and less haggle if you many pages or like one place where you can edit most of your site..
For the layout, simple is always good, since too complicated can get a little confusing and messed up.

hmm .. I use blogs, in a way they are like lite cms ..

moveable type was my fav .. but now they went "commmercial"

wordpress seems to be the sucesor .. http://wordpress.org/

I'm using and testing xMambo 4.5 right now on a new site under development. It's a very nice (and powerful) CMS, and standards-compliant. It's a little intimidating (for first time CMS users), but luckily I have Zopester to help me. This version is beta, and a developers release, but I'm very impressed.

I like mambo as well. And for a design, you should just create something that suits the company.

No need for him to use a cms system if he dont have many sites, else a header and index + footer would be ok and easy'er to design then looking into the code of those systems sometimes.

I agree, you should go with mambo OS. Althought, there is a known security bug in it, so you should patch it(I'm not sure if in the latest release the bug is fixed).

Also, it's got a few very nice themes, some of them completely un-portal like. But as you said, you're good at design/progr. so you could make some wonders there ;)

If you're going to use a CMS, use one that suites your needs. PHPNuke is a full site solution and is overkill for your needs. Just look at the various CMS systems and see which one seems to fit your needs without overburdening you with useless features and complicated functions.