it looks nice but all the links go nowhere If you have good content it'll probably go good?

Thanks for your responses, guys.

@ SunRise: I know the links are broken. Don't worry, I'll have all of that sorted out before I launch it.

@ eurogrande: My intention was not to have an over-the-top Web 2.0 design with starbursts everywhere and "buzzword" written all over it. I wanted it to be easy on the eyes and to convey the message that content is king.

Posted By: eurograndeColin,
On the other hand, even if you don't have a "easy-to-the-eye" site, you can draw lots of visitors to your site, likesmashingmagazine.com. But then it's all about C O N T E N T

I think that a lot of people would disagree with you on this, myself included. I don't think that a "Web 2.0" site is pleasing to the eye. Take these examples: Airbag Industries and MSN.

Airbag is one of my favorite sites, because as soon as I load it, my eye goes to the logo and then jumps directly to the content. MSN, on the other hand, (when viewed on my slightly-smaller-than-screen-size Safari window) has NO content before the fold. My eye does exactly what FastClick wants it to do. It goes directly to the giant ad for NetFlix. That's ok if there's content next to it, but I look to the left and there's another ad.

My goal with Net Shiz is to give readers great content with minimal advertising and flashyness overpowering the design and in turn their eyes. The only ads on Net Shiz will be very small (i.e. 120x90) and only in the emailed newsletter and text ads in the feed.

There are lots of nice WEB2.0 sites but a site doesn't have to be WEB2.0 to look good. My site for example is not really WEB2.o in that its not all shiny. I like some web2.0 sites alot, but decided to make my portfolio a little unique.

I think your site looks good. Especially on a site thats not just a brochure site its more important that the design frames the content without overpowering it. Content is going to be whats important, because as long as the design is good (which yours is) people will come back for the CONTENT. I think your site will do good.

trying to be unbiased and positive,
5UNR1S3 (SunRise)

To avoid the delay when hovering them, you should just preload the image so it is fetched from cache. You could use something like this in your CSS:

#preloadedImages {
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
display: inline;
background-image: url(path/to/image1.png);
background-image: url(path/to/image2.png);
background-image: url(path/to/image3.png);
background-image: url(path/to/image4.png);
background-image: url();
}

Then place <div id="preloadedImages"></div> right below the body or you could just place the following right below the body for your text images:

<img src="image1.gif" style="display:none;" alt=""/>
<img src="image2.gif" style="display:none;" alt=""/>


Haha... this always happens to me. I hate it now!

Back to the drawing board for something brighter.

@colin thanks for the comment about my site.

@jrochman i did the same thing for the color changing icons on the website I made for Ex Patria Wines.

@everyone i think its good that were all helping out with eachothers designs this is cool!

GTG,
SunRise