Compared to what I have seen you do in signatures and with smudging, this is quite a downgrade. It is very monotone, messy, and a coding nightmare. I don't know what to suggest to you aside from going to look at templatemonster or something for some ideas. I hope I haven't offended you in any way, but after seeing all your signatures I expected much more. I guess it is a completely different genre though. Try applying what skills you know (smudging etc.) to your web design. Not only will it be very creative, it will allow you to branch out into other forms of web design once you get used to it.
^^^I would not follow this advice Don't go look at template monster. All it will do is hinder your ideas. You'll see a good template, and go "I wanna make something like that!" open up photoshop, and 30 minutes later, you're cutting yourself because it looks like crap compared to what seasoned professionals can do. Your design isn't bad at all for a first one. I don't really see how it's a "coding nightmare", it may not be easy, but certainly no nightmare. Your first template is a heck of a lot better than my first one. Also, don't try to incorporate "sig design" (smudging, brushing etc) into your template. You design a sig to be a sig, you design a web page to be a web page. The only time you should ever incorporate the two is in the header, but if you do that, it better flow with the rest of the design (See my first one, when I did some brushing in the header... it most definitely does NOT go with the rest of the design... you have to be smart about it!) Keep on working at it! Your first isn't bad, I would recommend looking at the specific elements of web pages (colors used, where things are laid out etc.) Good web design can take many many hours to create. Good luck and keep working at it!
