Hi Matt. Glad my input was of some help to you.
I've been dabbling as a Webmaster and making websites for many years now (though I'm no "expert" at it, I can design a clean, fast-loading, easy-to-navigate and SEO friendly website). In my experience, I find the "K.I.S.S." system works best for me.. "Keep It Simple, Stupid"
Make the front-page quick-loading, easy on the eyes, and have a menu that is easy to navigate and that is consistent from one page to the next.
You have dozens of links all over your main pages, and one can feel overwhelmed or "lost" of where to go or what to click.
On your left, you have different heading such as News, Tutorials, Editorials, Reviews, etc.... and under each heading lots of links. Maybe simplify things, make all those headings, or categories, a simplified nav-menu.. then, for example, let's say I decide to click on the category or topic of "Tutorials" from this simplified nav-menu, then the main "Tutorials" page would appear and only then would I see all of the related-links to that selected topic. Of course keep the same simplified nav-menu on all of the various category / topic pages for consistency and easy navigation.
Try not to have any one page scroll on-and-on too long. People don't like to have to scroll too much, especially if it's a main-page or a top-category page. Its hard for a visitor to digest.
As an analogy, let's say you are a bit hungry, so you go to McD's and buy a big-mac, fries, apple-pie and coca-cola. You don't shove the whole-thing in your mouth at once and try to then swallow it all at the same time, you take small easy-to-chew-and-digest bites... take your time, enjoy it, savor it, feel satisfied... then when you swallow, you take another little bite (though there are exceptions of where you see some slob trying to shove the whole burger-&-fries in his mouth at the same time, but then he usually ends up gasping and choking on it too, not to mention the bad indigestion after).
heheh... Anyways, the same thing goes for when I design a web-site. I try to make each page in "easy-to-digest bites"... it doesn't overwhelm the visitor, keeps things easy to navigate, easy on the eyes, and hopefully more friendly and enjoyable experience for them.
Here's an example of what I would consider a poorly designed webpage (Ack! Whaaaa? Where do I click? Me go Arrrgh!"):
North Brevard Business Directory:
http://www.nbbd.com/Clicking on any link on that page, things just seem to go from bad to worse
Example:
http://www.nbbd.com/godo/index.html Lost yet? I sure am. (Heheh, at least your site's not THAT bad).
Here an example of a very simple looking, yet probably the single most popular webpage on the internet:
Google:
http://www.google.com/Well, you get the idea of what I'm getting at. Sometimes "Less is More"
When it comes down to it, it's your site, so you can design and present it as you like. But if you want to better optimize your visitors experience at your site, and perhaps even getting more visitors willing to click on any ads you may have or to sign-up as a premium-member, try to see things from a visitor's perspective (and remember not all visitors are internet or computer savvy), rather than a webmaster-trying-to-show-everything-at-once-on-one-page perspective.
Best wishes. --- Don.
