I recently launched a comics website, www.hittingtreeswithsticks.com, which I created from scratch. I created my own design because I wanted to keep it unique, and used no templates.
Unfortunately, people who've looked at it says it appears "outdated" and "from the 90s", but haven't really been able to pinpoint how so. I was wondering if people could help me "modernize" my site without presenting me with downloadable templates. I'd still like to keep this my design, but I guess I need some artistic/design pointers.
DESIGN EDIT:
Okay, I've spent some time redesigning the template given your feedback, and found some great ideas on http://designshack.net/articles/layouts/10-rock-solid-website-layout-examples/.
I have two main templates I'm going to go for: (keep in mind this is just for layout... so none of the fonts, colors, images, or dimensions are set yet)...
Either:
A) Two column template
Search is on top and will expand down a bit with search results
In effort to get people to my artwork sub site, I'll include latest artwork on top right
Or
B) 3 Column template
Search is on the right and will expand downward as such with results
Gives more room for advertisements and other links
And this is the proposed, although minor, redesign for the View All and View Image templates:
View All: displays all images with archive-able dates
View Image: displays single full size comic
Any thoughts would be great!