"looks like a pile of shit" implies "make it look better" as the "constructive way the creator can improve upon it".

and if that's still too vague, then "find something that looks better, and then copy it" is a very good beginning.

since the intent here seems to be to offer an annotation capability, i'd suggest "medium.com" as a thing to emulate.

but since this developer, in one of the f.a.q., indicates a familiarity with medium already, that'd be unnecessary.

but i can go farther, if you like. try these on for size:

1. don't overlap the pictures; it defeats the purpose.

2. eliminate the project gutenberg legalese. it's ugly.

3. the headings should be formatted as headings.

4. give the paragraphs some decent formatting.

5. the all-uppercase words are supposed to be italicized.

6. improve the formatting of the text-annotations.

7. give incoming users an explanation of the purpose.

all of those should have been very obvious, and thus completely unnecessary, as well, but you asked for it.

-bowerbird