Sorry but that background would be too large for a website.. Perhaps it could work if you seperate surface part into a header and then put a color and put the bottom of the image in the footer.. But except that the site looks, how-to put in other words, unmodern.. Looks like you just learned the beauty or uglyness in layerstyles.. Use it wisely..

Go back, Rethink the idea, Have a cup of inspiration and come back with a new version :)

Depending on your audience, I might disagree that the background will be too big. It's got wonderful depth, and along with the rounded font and color-scheme I think there's a whole sense of immersion. You've really created the beginning of an environment here. For a broadband user, you can create an efficient site with nice effects like this, if you build it smartly.
I would like to see some things tweaked... Depending on how your window opens, you probably want to reduce the size of the borders around your content. You certainly wouldn't want someone to have to scroll just to see your main content and navigation.
Also, I don't know if I'm sold on the navigation bar being lower than the top edge of your content box. It feels like it should be aligned with the top.
So, my vote is: don't start over from scratch. You've got some nice things happening here. Just work on tightening things up. Work on your font styles. Think carefully about the placement of your interface elements. And consider how the site will behave in a window.

Thank you for your comments. Just a couple notes... the image is not the final size of the final... I will be targeting 1024x768. Everything is done in PS except the ground. I didn't use any layer styles. HHmmm...unmodern..don't think I've ever heard that, but I'm good with it :) I haven't done anything with the content area...I just put that stuff in to have something.

Good idea. It looks very good, very special (the colors, shadows, lights, the menu etc...). I wouldn't change it.

Joe

►Program Background in HTML correctly.
►Background is too big
►You will need 20-40 images! Think about users with dial up!
►Even if you are a CSS expert it would be a waste of time to find all of the bugs.
►Maybe you have a 30 inch screen but think about the people with 12 inch laptop screens. They will need to use the bottom scroll bar Which will show the customer/viewer how unprofessional you are.
►Artlebedev.com Look at this website. It is the most professional website in Eurasia. Do you notice the difference?

Are you an oceanographer? SCUBA diver? What's the reason behind having this environment for your Web site, other than that it's beautiful and you like it? I'm not sure if that matters, unless you're, say, an editor or fence-painter, in which case I'd say you're heavy on concept, light on relevant message.

The only really negative thing I'd say about this otherwise lovely (BEAUTIFUL) screen shot is that you've really reduced the area for text. People will need to zoom in on that. How will thiis affect the overall look? Will it annoy people? Most end users don't have as sophisticated equipment as ours.

Mara

LOL, I'm no scuba diver, just really liked the idea of creating in this environment. This is a personal site, and I'm playing with it. Once again... this image is targeted to 1024, content area will be fitted to be viewable in 800x600. And again, this is to be recreated in Flash, all the elements will be separate. I'm thinking the large screen shot is misleading. I was just looking for comments on the concept. Believe me, when this is done as an actual site, it will work fine as intended. I'm really working on the look and feel of it now.
And BTW,

"They will need to use the bottom scroll bar Which will show the customer/viewer how unprofessional you are." --One, this is not sized as the final version will be. And two, I am not unprofessional, thank you.

"►Artlebedev.com Look at this website. It is the most professional website in Eurasia." --You are joking, right?

Then for a personal site, bravo! It really is lovely.

Mara

I'd give the CSS a shot for the background anyway...I'll give it a shot if you would email the main background image to me.

Thanks for the offer tapodaca, but this is going to be created in Flash, I'm designing it in PS first.

Now think of this...to make your flash even less heavy...is placing the actual flash on top of a css layout. Just a thought and something that my company does when a flash site is requested.

I find that anything wider than 800px is wider than most people's screens so most of your background will be lost.

From an SEO standpoint, your flash site is going to be mostly hidden from view. The background image will take time to load (almost as much as if it were in slices in html or css) so you may lose some folks with the download time still. Flash is optimized for vector art, but not so much with raster art.

Great for a broadband site, but you might try doing two versions: One for broadband, full featured and a second one in css/html for search engines and the dial uppers out there (you'd be surprised how many folks still have dial up access).

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Powerpoint is not a design application

The Artlebedev.com site is a fairly average rip off of apple.com at best. But I love the freakin $1500 keyboard! That thing is sweet!

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Powerpoint is not a design application

Well, life took over for a bit, but I'm back.. and finally have the site up. I've also switched over to a mac during my interim and love it! Anywho.. I designed this in PS first, then recreated the panels in Flash and put it all together in Flash driven by XML. It explands to accomodate from 1024 and up resolution. I'm enjoying playing with it...think I'm gonna add some random bubble action coming up from the bottom...maybe a lurking shark in the background.. I know, I know...over the top. But since this is my freelance site, I think I can play around a bit ;)

http://rainworld.com .. no spam, just wanted to share and follow up on my earlier postings in case anyone was wondering what was happening with it :)