today's webdev thing has turned to thoughts of a redesign for my site
and it's interesting
when i think - how do i modernize this
to move away from a lot of tables
we end up with thoughts of something that looks like A Lot of Other Websites

...fictional ex-90s platformer mascot, nerd, plural, ΞΞ.
today's webdev thing has turned to thoughts of a redesign for my site
and it's interesting
when i think - how do i modernize this
to move away from a lot of tables
we end up with thoughts of something that looks like A Lot of Other Websites
i think a good source of inspiration is looking at the websites of fellow creatures on here. click on profiles, if you find a webring then follow it, see what others are up to. most of them aren't super professional (i know mine isn't) but every single one has a lot of character.
if i were to pick a couple of standouts it would be @peb (https://pebble.pet/) and @TuxedoDragon (https://tuxedodragon.art/), both have amazing sites
i'm also part of the enclave webring (https://zatzhing.me/webring) if you start browsing the sites, some of them are parts of other webrings as well. just click through them, exploring randomly, until you see something that inspires you :P
Honestly your current design seems fine, save for needing some CSS tweaks on mobile, and the tables being replaced with something responsive for mobile as well!
I run https://museumofzzt.com/ which avoids JS except for things like form inputs and the file viewer that is actually an online app. It too is rougher on mobile. It's a pretty standard layout though.