
I'm really liking the graphics on the left, but the menu elements are a bit hard to read on top of them...
I'm a big
USE IT fan, which doesn't look so sharp itself (read
here), but there's NO WAY you'll miss what's actually going on- the information delivery.
Besides that, there are some great reports and papers on (amongst other things...):
Hardcore introduction to CSS (read this if you're SERIOUS about web design- if you're just having fun, then these might ALL be a bit heavy

)
Reset and Cancel buttons
How users READ on the web
and many more...
Of course it depends how much into all of this you want to go, but having only picked up CSS a few months ago, I'm realising that the more we do what these (initially) boring (sorry Jakob

) people are saying, the more EVERYTHING we're doing can advance...
here's a real gem of inspiration for anyone contemplating getting into
REAL CSS-BASED DESIGN... any time the CSS world gets me down, I take a stroll in the
Garden
Keep smiling, peeps!
Coos