Design is more objective than most people think. Forget about "pretty" designs for a moment and think of design as utility. It's about visual communication. There are principles that you can familiarize yourself with that, when followed, will create a great looking end-product.
Emphasis - Every mark on a page has visual weight. Adjust the size, lightness/darkness, shape, texture, etc. to control emphasis.
Visual hierarchy - What are the most important elements and in what order? Use emphasis to guide a person's eyes through those elements.
Unity - All the elements on a page should look like they belong to the same "unit" (think military or corporate uniform). Simply applying consistent margins, padding, font sizes can go a long way in enhancing a design.
These are a few to start with but if you search "principles of [web] design" you can learn a few more and see some examples. Start to look critically at the websites you like through the lens of these principles.
Once you're comfortable with the principles you can begin to decorate, make them pretty, and even start to break the rules (see brutalism).
Emphasis - Every mark on a page has visual weight. Adjust the size, lightness/darkness, shape, texture, etc. to control emphasis.
Visual hierarchy - What are the most important elements and in what order? Use emphasis to guide a person's eyes through those elements.
Unity - All the elements on a page should look like they belong to the same "unit" (think military or corporate uniform). Simply applying consistent margins, padding, font sizes can go a long way in enhancing a design.
These are a few to start with but if you search "principles of [web] design" you can learn a few more and see some examples. Start to look critically at the websites you like through the lens of these principles.
Once you're comfortable with the principles you can begin to decorate, make them pretty, and even start to break the rules (see brutalism).