Your site is very easy to navigate, having the side bar right there where veryone can see all the links. Also, having clear and concice titles is really the way to go, so you've done well. I think the space that you use is ok. Why it's not great is because the navigation area doesn't seem to be big enough, and the content area might therefore be a little too big. Maybe making the navigation area a little bigger and the content area a little smaller would be a good idea.

The blue colour for the background of the content area is nice, but the navigation area should possibly be the same colour, but the black doesn't seem to suit it. It kind of makes it look a little disconnected from the rest of the layout. I would also think about using maybe a grey colour for the content area and navigation area because those colours would probably go better with the top image. But otherwise, the colours are fine as they are.

Your font size is prefect! It makes everything very easy to read and I don't have to press my face up against the screen to read it. Although, the colour of the font is a bit bright. I completely understand how hard it is to find the prefect colour for writing on darker backgrounds, but perhaps you should use a lighter grey?

I love this layout because it's a completely original look! I don't think I've ever seen something that looks exactly like this, and that's good, because I know it's really all yours. So good job!

I'm glad to see that you hand code the pages, but to me it seems quite difficult. I think you should try making a stylesheet for your site. It would make changing colours easier. Also, you should think about changing your site to .shtml or something like that, because then when you change layouts you only have to change two pages instead of having to change every page. There's a great tutorial on this at Meduseld. If you actually thought about doing this, I could possibly help you along.

Great top image! It's very nicley blended! I love the fact that it doesn't take ages to load. I love your wallpapers and banners (especially the Pride of Gondor banner). I do think that a couple of your wallpapers would look even nicer if the images were sharpened, but overall your graphics are spectacular!

-Your 'Humans' section is well organized, but basically every biography is from A-U.com. You should think about re-writing them yourself so that you can really call them your own. The Isildur and Denethor pages are giving me trouble. On the Denethor page, the information starts at the very top of the screen which means that it is hidden by the top image. On the Isildur page there are a lot of pictures which cover your links and other content. You should reformat those two pages.

-I really like your 'Human History' section. It has a lot of useful information, but once again this information is not yours. It's from the Encyclopedia of Arda, and even though you have linked back to them, it's still theirs. Maybe you should do more research on these things and then write in your own words and put it up.

-Your J.R.R. Tolkien biography is great! It's so informative! Well done!

-I can't really comment on the gallery as it is down, but maybe change the colour of the big red heading to something that goes better with the site.

-From what I see in your 'Elvish' section, it looks like it's all from A-U.com as well. It's ok to use the song lyrics and things like that, but the names and dictionary I think you should take down and make yourself.

-I love the humour! It's always good to see! :-) But maybe put a couple more spaces between each picture.

-You've got so many games listed! This is really great for interactiveness. I could get lost in this for hours!

-I love that you have so many different contests. On the blend challenge page I think you should not have the pictures of the entries there, instead link to them. It takes up a lot of space and also looks a little messy.

-Your media section is fantastic! There are so many different things for people to download and look at! Your wallpapers and banners are gorgeous, but I do think that some of the images could be sharpened a little more.

-Great fan art section, that really gets people involved if they want to share their own things online. Nicely organized.

-About 'awards won', 'gifts', 'adoptions', 'links and affiliates', 'webmiss', and 'site listing'. I think you should put all of those links into one page probably called 'site'. You could also have the content from the 'about the site' section there. I think that would make it look a lot, well, cleaner. All those things really belong in a site section, so I'd change the way you have that set up.

I see that you have stated that a lot of information is from the Encyclopedia of Arda, but you should also add Arwen-Undomiel.com to that list.

Wow! You have four different contests going on! That's awesome! There's a lot of interactivity there, but you also have games for visitors. Well done!

You update almost every day! Bravo! You hardly ever go a week without updating! (I wish I could say that for myself...) Great job on adding things to the site all the time. Maybe take a little more time in adding those extra little words to your updates so that it reads smoothly, not many spelling errors though. You are very dedicated to this site, and that is clearly shown with all the updates. You seem like a great person, you're really kind to all of your visitors, and I can really see that on the tagboard. I would provide a clearer link for your email address maybe, as that means that people can ask other questions directly to you.

I've seen many sites that are a lot like yours in the way that they are general LotR. This might be a slight downfall for your site as it's pretty much like a lot of other general fan sites. If it had some other more original content to it it might be even better. A general site can still be very original if it has some original content, maybe think of somethings you can add to it, like information on plants from different places in Middle-Earth, the Valar, ideas sort of like that. I really enjoy looking around your site! I think I would definitely come back here. Your contests and games are things all in themselves that would call me back. I hope you consider some of my ideas for your site, but that's completely up to you!