Need some web desinging advice...

[dmaksimov]

So this is my first time designing a website...
this looks a little too basic and simple... what can i do to make it looker better?

 

[ishie]

Decent layout. What are you going to put in the body and sidebar?

 

[craftygeek]

The gaps between the different areas aren't equal & they aren't aligned correctly either - this makes it look a bit messy & harder for the eye to find its way round the page.

Text styling will be important - not sure what colour text you're planning, but I'd hazard a guess that having the same colour in the top right box & the bottom right boxes won't work due to the darker gradient at the bottom.

As above - its hard to give really useful comments without an idea of what the content is going to be.

 

[wiliamjoan]

I like to avoid using globals if possible. If you're just using vanilla functions - the DB object should be available without the need to use global. If you're using classes, it may be more complicated. You mention using Smarty - I haven't used it for a couple of years, so I can't quite remember the pitfalls, but I can't imagine that it would present an obstacle as you sort out your variables in php before assigning them/setting the block to the html template.