"Glynb, I have to disagree with equating color with good or bad design. There is almost a time a place for everything. A bad site to me is one that wants to be functional yet has tons of crap flying around the screen and text on a very busy and colorful background. Stay away from Flash for a bit. There is often too much temptation to go overboard and animate things for no good reason"
Of course there may be the odd occasion where dark blue text on a black background might be required, but I would think that's rare as it is difficult to read. The point I wanted to make was that if you make the site as easy to read and pleasant as possible people are less likely to leave early. And colour should be considered in the design. I completely agree with you about 'flying grafix' and flashing boxes, the odd one is OK to draw attention to something but animated gifs (not Flash) all over the place looks 'cheap' IMO.
A decent site in a week using HTML? Sorry I disagree there. Someone with a good knowledge of computers and HTML experience, maybe. Buit a beginner would need far longer to get a DECENT site up. AS beginner could maybe get a reasonable looking site up in a week using Dreamweaver or some such program where they don't have to know the 'code'.
Oictures/grafix are another area where much time is needed before people are able to manipulate images and customise them fro the web and produce gifs etc.
I'm certainly no expert BTW, just an amateur. Others here will have far more knowledge than I. Those interested can check out my efforts here:
www.dr-rox.co.uk
BTW, because the site has developed over time along with my 'skills' it contains many examples of bad design, which I haven't got time or inclination to tackle!
It's not flashy, but it's tidy and does the job. Suggestions welcome.
