Suggestions welcome.

[geckoden]

I am thinking of giving my website an overhaul. I have changed it very little in the almost four years that it has been up and I'm sure there have been many cool advances in web design since I first had it created. If you have time and are willing; please take a look see and offer up any suggestions.
Thanks!
Gecko Den
www.geckoden.com

[Kitchensink108]

Unless you want to convert from tables to divs/css, I don't think you need to change the layout code very much. The layout itself looks fine, and I think a lot of improvement could be made just by changing the images around.

First, I'd remake the banner. I've never been a fan of having one image on one side of the text, then just reversing that image for the other side. You could also work with the negative space of the banner a bit to make it more interesting.

The only thing I have to say about the nav is make the links a different color onmouseover. The color right now is too similar to its background.

I don't like the eyes bordering the content area. I'm not entirely sure what you'd change it to, but something a bit less...odd.

On the main page, I don't like the orange font, and I never really like centered text, but that's just me. Also, along the lines of things I, in particular, do a lot, is using dropshadows and such a lot. I'd probably try adding dropshadows or innershadows to the nav and the content (alternatively, the banner and the eye columns, depending on how it's worked, it doesn't matter which). I usually use those for softening hard edges, like everywhere the orange meets the white.

The main page seems a bit messy: two font colors, large centered text, a really small centered image link, a box of recent additions, and what appears to be information and a picture of a random gecko. This post is also messy, as I come up with new ideas and am too lazy to go up and figure out where I'm contradicting myself. Anyway, I'd probably shrink the font-size, align the font to the left, and make the text only half the width of the content area. Then, to the right of it, have the recent additions above the gecko picture. I'm just picturing this in my mind, you can never been too certain how it'll look unless you mock it up.

On the Geckos for Sale page, you might want to add sorting by columns. If you want to take the easy route:
http://kryogenix.org/code/browser/sorttable/

A lot of your left-aligned text is right up against the left eye column. I suggest padding the text like 20px from any border.

That's all I've got. Hopefully it helps.

[d1skreet]

Lose the eyeballs, they're creepy.

Seriously though, the site has an interesting layout. Very well done.

The one thing I would change is that you broke the cardinal rule of web design. If the background is white, specify it. Firefox uses an off white as the default background color (Depending on your system theme), which causes white-background images to look strange. One line of CSS takes care of this.

- Kyle

[YvetteKuhns]

I agree with the other comments. Do you ship outside of the United States? If so, how? Include privacy policies in your terms page. It is especially necessary to explain how to opt in or out of the newsletter. I couldn't find a contact page that would have the company name, address, phone number (business calling hours), email address and possibly a contact/feedback form.

My sister and I used to have all kinds of reptiles. My mom didn't like pets that would eat other pets. We used to scare the neighborhood kids with the snakes. The skinks would hide a lot. We never bought our pets, though. We always caught them. My dad went on fishing trips and brought home interesting animals that were not from Pennsylvania.

Have you ever been to Reptile Land near Roadside America? We were there almost 20 years ago. We should take my son there. Since we sold our farm, my son misses the animals. Ha ha. My son just saw the website and he said he likes all those staring eyes! That figures. It bothers the rest of us. He also likes the colors.

[geckoden]

Thanks for the great feedback so far! I should have mentioned in the first post that I didn't create the site; but I'm taking notes so that I sound half way knowledgeable when I tell my web guy what changes I would like to incorporate. Keep the great suggestions coming!
Thanks!

[phlembol]

Solid and simple form that works for your purpose. But I don't like that it spreads full width. I keep a large browser window and this site just spreads too wide to look good.

I don't like the eyes. They distract from content instead of contributing. More candid in-habitat type pics would be nice to see.

The "about gecko den" page really doesn't say much. Would be a nice place to see awards, show winners, maybe some pics of the facilities, "3 billion geckos served", something.

The "gecko info" page could be formatted better and needs some example pictures.

(Looks like the Lancaster County Reptile Show was canceled. No need to link to it.)

[YvetteKuhns]

Reptiland (http://www.reptiland.com/) was a neat place when I was a child. The Herp Center (http://www.herpcenter.com/shows-expos/14090-expo-hamburg-pa.html) lists shows and expos. You many want to participate in this forum or this forum (http://www.reptilerooms.com/forumtopic-51833.html)

I saw you listed at Gecko Top Sites (http://geckotopsites.com/topsites/), but you can look at other sites to see what you like or don't like. Some of the other logos are nicer than yours. Gecko Fever and Tangerine Gecko were probably the better logos. As for web design, I hate flash intros. I do like informative websites that are more than shopping cart.