[peacelilly]

The web design is indeed ugly, but at least it is functional.

Here are some easy to implement design suggestions: You should change the title of the first heading so it's not the same as the banner. I think "What is Tarsnap?" is a good choice. Speaking of the banner, vectorize it. Finally, please remove the bars from the asides.

Your product is good, so transferring a little attention to its web presence is worth the effort.

[vacri]

It's not ugly, so much as unconventional. It's also aimed at developers rather than c-levels or the general public. As for 'what is tarsnap?', the very first block of regular text on the tells you, in bullet-point form. It's the first place a native English speaker looks to read something; I read the text in the box before I read the heading for the box.

I hope he doesn't listen to the folks saying he should follow the herd. Websites where you have to page down below the fold to get basic information on the product? We should be pointing them at Tarsnap. But flat design is king on mobile, so we won't be getting many of these website layouts anymore.

[megous]

Ugly is subjective. I like it. It's actually readable and easy to navigate.

On small width device the menu will be on the bottom, so there's no duplication. (website seems to be responsive)

I like that the menu is on the bottom and not hidden behind a hamburger button.

[cperciva]

Not just on small width devices! The navigation menu is at the bottom if you look at the website in lynx, too (with a link to it at the top).