Hi there, I've just begun working on a design, and I wanted to ask a couple of questions before I go any further. For now, I have a screenshot uploaded at http://www.oofman.netfirms.com/screenshot.jpg

As you can see, I'm in the VERY early stages, but what are your opinions on what I have so far? Is there anything else I can do to improve it?

Then I have a couple of stumbling blocks. Firstly, I am thinking of putting a background image, perhaps a fixed one in there somewhere but I'm really struggling for ideas on this one? Does it really need one or would getting it right make a vast improvement?

Then there's the navigation system. Now, you see on the left of the header image where the image dips a little? I wanted to integrate the navigation with that, but I'm yet to come up with anything that looks half decent. Does anyone know of any good examples which might help me along the way?

Anyway, that's all for now. Some honest opinions on my design so far would be greatly appreciated,

Cheers,
Jonny