Please review my site (Literature Spot)

looking good, just a few things that need to be changed(In my opinion).

I think your links that go across the top of the lady should be below her. Or at least lowered and fade the bottom of the lady in the area the links will be.

There is to much white, the content needs to be seperated otherwise it all just jumbles together. You might also want to choose a different background color for the area outside your main content. That way it will stand out better.

And Im not sure if the google ad over top of your logo is what your reffering to but if not, well thats something else to fix

I dont have any advice on how to get people to sign up, cause Im still figuring that out myself

Looks okay but not quite what I expected. The design is more techie-clean than literature-ish. I was also confused by the book you have displayed on the front page about time management, and the woman in the header who looks like she's writing in a daytimer. That's not literature!

The navigation menu is really messed up in Opera. It's overlapping on two rows to the right side.

The forum area also doesn't have any literature-related content. There's just general chat and off topic. More book related topics should be included here. I notice you have a thread asking for suggestions. You could have a forum to talk about what people are reading now, maybe all time favourites and classics, non-fiction (although that's not literature either).... not sure what else. I'm thinking aabout what you'd find in a book shop. You could call the off topic area "coffee shop" to be in keeping with the book store theme.

It might help to keep that first "hello" message at the top at all times so people know what your site is about when they get there. It might motivate people to join (so include a registration link!). I woudl de-emphasize the forum statistics while you're starting out. No need to advertise the fact that you only have two members

Hi, I will be giving a user review. The site is okay, but things seem to just be floating around the page. Also, the text is way too small. The 'view headlines archives' link appears out of place as well. I didn't even realize it was a clickable link. Need to make that link more defined. I also tried searching for some things. Is it necessary to alphabetize all the sections? I would just get rid of the alphabet thing all together and just catergorize by theme/subject. Also, when you start adding literature onto the site, I would include a 'new' button of some sort indicating which sections have new work. Also, include numbers, like (7) next to each section to show there are 7 pieces of work in that section. Since it would be a pain to click on each subject only to find out there is nothing in there. Most people like to browse rather than search on a site, atleast I do and that would make it easier for me to find things. Your poll is confusing, too. 'So, what do you think?' What do I think about what? I assume you mean what do I think about the site, but that is not clear. I am also used to seeing clickable boxes for polls, not clicking on the answer itself. It was kind of odd. I like the concept of the site, though.

i used your critiques and fixed some stuff, but I can't figure out whhat is messing up my design in other browsers, in firefox works nice. Will change the poll look, and added the numbers. Thanx for reviews, will be waiting for more ...

The numbers for each theme are good. I don't think you need to put the word 'entries' next to each number, though. You could just put (1). People would know what that means.

Not sure what you did with the poll, but now you can't place a vote. I also wouldn't display the poll results. It will sway the way people chose to vote.

you can't place a vote, because you have allready voted, and poll results are displayed to people that have allready voted. Removed 'entries'

Your website has a very nice design and an easy to use interface. As a hobbiest of fine liturature I would love to see more sites like yours on the net. I don't see anything wrong at first glance, and when I go deeper into the site the content just gets better. Excellent job and good luck.

I think the site is much more search friendly now. I can easily go into each catergory and immediatley see the articles. Great job, good luck with it.

fixed the problems that were in IE. Does page looks 'weird' in your browsers? (like buttons over that lady in header or something unnatural?)

I like the site. I recommend you keep building up some links and maybe add a contact page for your visitors. You can get a free email form at http://flashmailforms.com

I am thinking that the top banner is just a little to big. The image is kind of grainy and when I look at it in an 800x600 window that is all I see. If you shrink that image down and bump up the quality you won't be losing anything but you will gain page visibility. I would also make the width of the page around 776 pixels instead of 800. It is annoying for those 800 wide windows to have to scroll that last bit to read the right side of the screen.

Also, looking at the content on the home page, it doesn;t seem to have anything to do with literature. Also, what if I want to submit a story, who di I talk to? How do I do it? I think you should make it easy for people to do that. If they need to register... let them know that.

All and all though I do like the design... Although not crazy about yellow rollovers... but that is just me.

width of the page is 780px, so i don't know about that. Image should be high quality, will check it out, thanx
added the guidelines

sized to 770px, is it ok now?

That is close enough... I still have to scrool because of the left margin, but I don't lose any information.