I decided to start this thread a little early only because I know from experience that it is much easier to fix mistakes and make your site better the earlier you catch the problem. My new site, www.forumdetector.com is going to be targeted towards EVERY internet user. I feel like forums are only used by more computer savvy people right now, and forums are such a great place to gather advice and information on any subject. Right now I am just looking for basic reviews and ideas, maybe a few problems or issues that you would like see fixed?
Since you average user is just looking for a forum to find something, I would suggest moving the categories menu to the top and maybe keeping the home link up there as well. The other options like "suggest" or "advertise" are not really for your target user. The overall look is great.
I like the clean look. That was my first impression. I'm submitting my step family forum, http://onefamily.bornmannfamily.com/forum/Default.aspx This is a good test to see your submission process is working for the avg user. Let me know if it works...
I posted the reciprical at: http://onefamily.bornmannfamily.com/Links.aspx I'm still building my links page but it's there for now... They are going to be categorized. I think you should add some text behind your link to describe it. I'll add it for you on my links page. Let me know what you think. Keep in touch.