I'm in the process of a site face lift and have had some remarks made regarding the navigation. Seems pretty simple and straight forward to me, but then I designed it so of course I have an advantage. www.westlight.net Not sure about the look of the buttons and the fonts. The logo font has to stay as it is used in my gallery for bags, cards, ads, etc... Any opinions?...dumb question. Better yet any suggestions? This is a VERY photo very site an I know it may load a little slow, but considering the content...
I would suggest at the very least losing the bevel on the logo in the header, and going with plain solid colour, maybe a slight gradient, but no bevel. As for the navigational menu. Same thing really, kill the bevel, add colour, and a "lesser" gradient, maybe even split up the buttons, so that they aren't all on the same bar.
First off, very striking site - those images against that gray background.... well done. You asked about the navigation. 1) I had to squint to see what the navigation text read... if you are going to keep the navigation buttons that dark, it might be alright, just make the nav text white instead. 2) Why not keep the nav menu the same width as the rest of the page? It will allow you to bring up the nav point size at least one. 3) Do you have to have it in that font? In the header, you have your logo font, then the "by David C Schultz" font, then all the way down the page it is yet another font. That is not including the title for the image and the phone number (Times). Stick to two fonts, three max (that includes your logo!) 3) I would enjoy a *little* more of a rollover effect. Of all this, I'm not saying to make your nav the focal point in white 16pt font, just think it can be called out a little more. Amazing photos!