LDN - Luminis Developer Network

I've checked out several forum topics on this site dealing with channel customization layouts and i've made an attempt to make the channels more attractive looking, however this did not succeed. I've seen some of the school's sample channels and they look good (i.e, ScAD)

I know I am definitely doing something wrong in code in the nested-tables.xsl file.
I'm a little confused as to how to modify the code in the section beginning with ‹ Use of Luminis Content Management System Lightweight CMS for Channels ›