Embellish all you want, but take this
sites appearance was criticized many times, like it is boring, etc.
Needs to be taken with grain of salt (okay, a 6 lb block of it, at times.)
A professional will comment on a site's "boringness" with specific details, like
"I don't think the header graphics is appropriate for the topic, it's about widgets but it has an image of a car."
Or
"The text is too heavy and there's nothing to compel the viewer to spend a minute of their precious time to read it. You might draw interest with a pic of a thumbnail by the widget paragraph, this gives a visual connection to what the text is about and may draw their interest."
If someone's only comment is "it's boring" it's likely they don't have the skills to make a comment that is of any real value simply because, in absence of the knowledge of what makes web sites work, they don't have the words to describe their reaction in detail.
The question you should ask immediately is "what should you do to make it less boring?" If their response is anything like
"I donno, it's just dead, it just sits there. It needs things flashing or moving, like animations."
"You need more colors, it's only blues and golds"
(which is a perfect example of a complimentary color scheme, and is a good choice based on color THEORY.) "You need more colors, like every other link should be a different color, that makes it exciting."
These are two
real responses from my "customer memorable quotes" file and they are making comments based on **their** life experiences without a single clue as to what makes web sites work. Typical participants are employees, co workers, "friends" and others, many of which have no clue how to build a web site and are often reacting out of a hidden jealousy - I can't do it, so I must poo poo on what you've done here, if I can't do it, it must suck.
So be cautious about making such changes without understanding the motivations. Find someone who knows their stuff, has experience in it, pay them to be honest and you may get a more clear assessment.
No images, pure HTML.
One word: craigslist.org. "Beauty" is not always the most important thing.
