Feedback - so long as it is constructive - welcomed. Any suggestions
as to site enhancement also welcomed. However be warned - flaming will
be posted!

Ok. At the risk of being flamed, or dis-invited, as other have already
been, here goes....

First off, thank you for your work in displaying the talents of these
amazing artists to the world. I appreciate your efforts and your support of
woodturning through your collecting, photography and obvious love of turned
wood.

The splash screen at the beginning is a nice change from the ubiquitous
Flash movie. It still isn't necessary or particularly useful, but at least
it is a nice image, tells the visitor what is inside and how to get there.
If you changed the image each time a visitor arrived (from your
secret-password approved list or non-restricted country), which is easily
done, it would be a lot more interesting.

I understand that you want absolute control over how your site displays, but
the level of control you are shooting for is not so easily accomplished,
especially with a complex site such as this. Recommending a browser and a
resolution setting is not a legitimate alternative to the hard work of
getting your fairly complex site to style correctly in all popular browsers.
Like it or not, many studies have shown that most people browse about 800
pixels wide, regardless of the size of their monitor, and will not resize
just because you want them to. The more common choice is to immediately go
somewhere else with their next mouse click. If you want everyone to get the
most out of your site (and comments like "Dont visit again - clearly it is
not suited to you." might point out that you do not), it is up to you to
make sure that it displays properly or degrades gracefully... and yours,
unfortunately, does not.

Your photographs are very nicely done. Disabling the right-click feature,
however, smacks of pettyness. You've already displayed the photos,
appropriately, at fairly small size and resolution, limiting the desire to
steal. Better (in my opinion) than not allowing others to share them would
be to have an inobtrusive copyright statement with the name of the
photographer tucked into a corner. Yes, I know that these can usually be
stripped out easily by a graphics processor, but most of the interested
would just keep the images or at worst simply repost them, letting the world
know forever more who took that amazing photo. I am also assuming that you
have the permission of the artists to photograph and display their work in
this restrictive fashion. I find it fascinating that the web sites of the
artists listed in your links page do not disable right-click saving of the
photos of their work - but you do.

Some of the gallery links (such as Laura Ponting) do not function correctly.
Since I have not checked all of them, you might want to check the links
throughout your site.

You need to spelll-chekc every single page of your site - and your emails
for that matter.

Using non-standard design elements, such as the scroll arrows on your site,
no matter how cool they are or how long long they took you to develop, are
just that: non-standard. Non-standard navigational elements, in particular,
confuse visitors and get them to leave faster than anything else. As has
been pointed out by others, your scroll arrows seem to work opposite what I
expected; this may be a cultural expectation and might be easy to remedy, if
you are interested. I understand that you wanted something nicer than the
standard scroll bars, and nicer ones do exist, as do page layouts that do
not invite separate scolling in each frame (another "feature" you are using
that is quickly, and appropriately, becoming rare) . Getting rid of the
frames may, in fact, lead you to better, more attractive page layouts that
are easier to maintain and style across your site. You have already
received, and chosen to riducule, feedback that your site navigation is not
working well. Fixing it is your choice.

An online reference that you may find useful:
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
Don't be put off by the name, it is a very useful site if studied with an
open mind and a sincere desire to improve your web authoring skills. Pay
particular attention to the secions on Mystery Meat Navigation.

Have a Happy New Year, Jonathon
I hope your 2005 brings you amazing finds for your collection.

Michael Latcha - at home in Redford, MI