[thelist] Site check, please?

[Matthew Bernhardt]

Hello everyone,
  I'd like to ask interested folks to take a look at this site and offer feedback:

http://benedikt.knowlton.ohio-state.edu

This is a re-launch of the web presence for the school where I work - you can see our current site here:

http://knowlton.osu.edu

Notes about the new site and my priorities:

* Generally speaking, I'm interested in critiques from a usability/clarity perspective first, before aesthetic concerns. The internal stakeholders can (and have) given me quite a bit of feedback about the "look" of the site.

* The menu system is currently not what I'd choose if I had complete freedom - as inferred above, I'd rather do this with CSS and background colors. However, the design perspective needs greater control over the letters, spacing, and font than I can currently achieve with CSS and normally-available fonts. Am I missing something? I would -love- to ditch the images here.

* Thoughts on the utility of the breadcrumbs at the top of the content div? I'm getting some pushback internaly about why they're necessary, and the literature I've reviewed so far has been equivocal about how often breadcrumbs are used.

* Anything else I'm missing or is critical to fix? Opportunities that I'm neglecting?

Thanks in advance,
Matt Bernhardt
bernhardt.7 at osu.edu