Ask HN: Designer Resources for Experienced Back-end Engineers

I can design highly available systems. I can make a great, developer-friendly API. I can make a user interface that's functional and effective.

What I can't do is make a visually appealing web site. For years I've been telling myself that that's just not something I'm able to do - after all, my strength is in back-end systems. But recently I realized that I'd never actually tried to do so. I've just assumed that I couldn't because I tend towards more functional UIs. I have no specific reason for wanting to learn this, other than challenging my own assumptions about myself.

Of course I've looked online, but most of what I turn up are links to sites that promise to teach me everything[1], or top-10 lists]2], or tutorials on how to write HTML[3] and javascript [4]. I find plenty of offers to host my site[5], how to build easy sites with someone else's cheesy templates, how to bring a site online quickly with flavor-of-the-year, and a dozen other things.

The remainder appears to be opinions stated forcefully as facts -- with all the fervor of any great religious debate.

So I ask you this: are there good resources that teach the basics of web site design, and how to implement such designs using stable tools? What about at a higher level -- verifiable discussions of proven designs, along with studies or information about the effectiveness of recent trends (like half-page carousels and 'cleverly' hiding multiple pages behind vertical scrolling).

[1] for a not-so-small fee [2] links to adfarms [3] I know it reasonably well[4] I'm quite comfortable with the language itself [5] Have it already [7] both of these trends I find personally distasteful but are they effective?