Yeah, people confuse "pretty" with "good design". Sure, sometimes pretty things are designed well; but they are not different words for the same thing. Personally, I think the best design is <h1>My site</h1> <h2>Foo</h2> <ul><li>Foo 1</li>... anything else is pretty, not useful. Note that this is how I've designed http://jrock.us. It's very easy to find content, and it looks the same in any browser. And, it took me all of 30 seconds to implement, sparing my time for sleeping or watching TV :)
And in all honesty, if I stumbled on your site in the middle of the night, I'd immediately hit the back button.
I would have no idea it's a personal site, or even what the point is. The biggest words I see are 'jrock.us' which has no meaning in the English language.
You have 3 seconds to make an impression and sincerely, I think you fail with this minimalist design. Put up a photo of yourself and the words, "Perl makes me horny." and suddenly, I get it. Well, sorta. :)
But I don't need to make an impression. You are there because you want something I have, that I am giving away for free. So I get to take the easy way out when it comes to design.
If you are randomly viewing my website... well... you need a hobby ;)
Content is king, but king also need to wear some pretty clothes. Unless you're already a celebrity in the real world, your site has no chance to stand out from the crowd.
