I agree with Rick!
Based on your family comments I expected something totally different.
See what your family has in mind...what they object to specifically, what do they want changed and see if you can fit some of it into existing site. You can redesign your layout within CSB and still do well on rankings if you have incoming links AND as Rick said, maintain site structure, page naming, linking.
Take a look at this page for some more basic search engine info. Remember site rankings are flexible! They can bend but also break! Feed the HUMAN and the COMPUTER visitor. TEXT content is vital for search engines and you have it.
Flash is fun for the human eye but does NOTHING for the search engines. If your family wants some flash, etc then by all means add some, but make sure you do not remove anything vital from your content that the search engines need. And do NOT use a splash page to enter your site. Your rankings will tank!!!
Software CAN greatly impact a site's rankings. Coding is very important. CSB, though old, still creates sites that can be highly ranked.
But design and consistency will hurt you just as much as Rick said!
- If you suddenly change your pages to have less CONTENT, search engines may find you less relevent.
- If you suddenly get rid of the id11 page naming and change to words (contactus.htm) etc, it breaks links.
So, stay consistent with page naming.
- CSB pages do not have to all look the same. Every site that I have made (or edited) has an individual look/feel. They CAN look like bland templates when the author has little imagination to adjust the site. Even if you were to use Dreamweaver, Site Spinner, Expression Web or any other web builder or content management, you would have a choice of basic templates to start your site. It is what YOU, the author and webmaster, do to that web page that makes it unique to reflect your personality and your purpose. There is much you can do within CSB.
- If you do move to another software, you are better changing out pages little by little to see the effect on your rankings.
Let us know what they want and we will try to steer you to your best options! Stay for a while longer or move to something else....