Artist Out of Water - www.reflectionsinvintage.com

[revintage]

Like others here, I'm brand new to the web design field. I'm an artist in a variety of mediums but never thought web site design would be one of them. I'm finding it challenging, frustrating and rewarding.

My partner and I create home decor items, jewelry and glassware using vintage materials, techniques and design inspirations.

It's been great to see such a wide variety of interests and vocations represented here on the forums. Not to mention the help I've recieved through information I've gained here. The community seems to be extremely supportive of one another. It's been a great reward to find you all. I look forward to meeting more of you one-on-one.

I would love any advice on my web design, products or anything else you think a "newbie" should know.

Thanks....
Reflections In Vintage

<Mod edit to comply with Site Review Rule #1 (http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=47) - Masterpeace>

[benihana]

i think overall the layout is pretty good. the colors suit the product, and it looks pretty easy to use. i would suggest maybe toning down the background a little and or darkening the fonts a little.

BUT (and its a big but;))
it appears everypage is one big gif file with imagemaps for links. the style of layout you have would be extremely easy to markup properly in html, and the benefits would be many:

i) search engines would be able to tell what your site is about which would be a great benefit in driving traffic to your site.
ii)blind and partially sighted people would be able to use assistive tools to visit your site, or change the text size to one that suits them.
iii) it will be much easier to make minor amends to the pages - no need to fire up photoshop or whatever to correct a typo, or stick a different photo in.
iv) the pages would download a lot quicker.
v) youd be able to add a little more interactivity, e.g links changing color on mouse over etc.
vi) some people surf with out images.

i think the site as it is is ok. the designs fine and its easy to use (for people who use graphical browsers) , but if you were to mark it up in html it would be 100X better.

sorry if this sound overly critical.

ben