Ok, so you're wondering due to the relatively stark nature of my site, why 'web design?' Heh, ok... so I'm a bit of a minimalist. My take on web design, like many things is, less is more. Too many sites clutter themselves with eye candy, often of questionable taste, only to slow the site down and make it harder to find the information at hand. This eye candy interferes with viewing the site on alternate devices that are becoming more prevalent as I found out when trying to browse the web on my PDA. Handicap accessibility is becoming more of an issue as the web and the internet in general are becoming more ubiquitous in the average persons daily life. Eye candy doesn't help a reader program for the visually impaired.
Not that I am against eye candy. I like it in fact, when used with taste and forethought. It's just that I would rather concentrate on the content and add visual amenities when they are helpful.
Since this is 'my personal site' I feel free to break this convention with no explanation at any time, 'just because I feel like it' ;p
UseIt.com: good resource for usability issues in web design. As I was going through Jakob's site, I found areas that my opinion differed, but with the amount of content he has up and the nature of it, that is to be expected. Overall he offers quantity and quality in information on usability in web design. He has an Alertbox section that highlights current topics in usability and a series of top 10 design flaws that have changed over time. At the bottom of that page are links to previous versions of the list. Check them out since the flaws they point out are still valid, just not as common today as those on the current list.
Usability.gov - Guidelines : Official government guidelines on web design usability. While I haven't been a fan of usability of government sites in the past, I have to say they are getting much better. This site has some very good information and is laid out in an easily accessible format.
OpenSource Web Design: " is a place to download free web designs and share yours with others. We help make the internet a prettier place." (From their site.) Nice resource.
Welie - Web Design Patterns : This site has good visuals on different designs and what the fundamentals are of that design. It provides a good resource for when one needs to design a site for a given purpose and wants to make sure the design suits the purpose.
The Web Design Group - HTML Help : " founded to promote the creation of non-browser specific, non-resolution specific, creative and informative sites that are accessible to all users worldwide. To this end, the WDG offers material on a wide range of HTML related topics. We hope that with this site as a reference, you will be able to create Web sites that can be used by every person on the Internet, regardless of browser, platform, or settings." Great resource for information on HTML, CSS, FAQ's, and general fundamental source code info. There isn't a lot of information about eye candy here, its pretty much all about the source, but a great easy to understand collection for that.
PageResource.com: This site has some well written information on basic to advanced topics. I sampled the sections on CGI and it read well. It also had a good layout for finding the typical tasks one would want to accomplish in handling fundamental design issues. Because of this, I give it a recommend.
Webmonkey: A classic, hosted now by Lycos-Hotwired. This site offers an extensive range of topics. Their home page could definitely use some work imo.
About - Web Development : A subset of the About web site. About often has a good collection of information and resources on a topic and this is no exception. The topics covered here are to extensive and wide ranging to sum up in a simple description. Recommended for a regular read.
Web Developers Library : Beginner to advanced topics, extensive and wide ranging.
Dev Shed : Advanced design. If you're not at the advanced level, there's probably nothing here for you.
Note, free often means free with conditions. It is important to verify the usage conditions to stay within the copyrite.
Creating Online: Large collection of resources in various categories, example - their free stock photos.
Stock.xchng: Free stock photo exchange
FreeFoto: Very nice collection of free images that are royalty free 'under conditions.'
Photoshop Support: A very good photoshop resource and information site with free stock photo links.
Image*After: Photos and textures.
Shutterpoint: is royalty-free but not 'free.' There are a lot of sites that sell royalty-free images, what makes this different is that it allows independent photographers a venue for selling their work.