After working most of the time with FireFox and IE7, it's painful to go back to IE6. It's a real pig. I just got Apple Safari 3 working (mostly; galleries, but no shopping cart), and except for some geeky problems with the XML, I'm starting to think it's a pretty good browser, almost as good as FF. I have the Windows version, and pages render nicely. It has really nice font anti-aliasing, and built-in controls like scrollbars and lists, etc., have that spiffy Mac look.
Alas, IE6...sounds like the only three problems you experience that could be laid at its door are the stack overflow, the erratic sizing of the widgets, and layout flaws like overlapping text. I've been trying to nail that stack overflow for some time...it only shows up for me occasionally, usually when I'm focused on fixing another problem. I'll keep plugging away at the problems.
Navigation is an interesting challenge with this technology, because the entire site consists of a single "page" (stretching that hoary old analogy past its breaking point; time to take off the training wheels and forget "page"). That's why the browser's back and forward buttons seem to have no connection to the site...they don't. Script displays images and fetches data records from the server. So in the design of the UI I have to treat it as a self-contained standalone application, much like a traditional GUI application.
In this latest version, I incorporated your suggestion to make the logo return "home", which in this case means that the widgets return to their opening configuration. I also added "alt" or "tooltip" text to a lot of the controls, and that may make it more comprehensible.
The thing about the changing color scheme in the two ancillary widgets--bio and shopping cart--is a puzzle, because I haven't been able to track down the flaw in the mode-switching logic that's doing it. So far as I can tell, the effect is impossible. I'm trying to convince myself that it's serendipitous, in that the small widgets are less noticeable when the focus is on an open gallery; but that may be delusional. The fact that it stood out for you suggests that I"m kidding myself, and I should keep plugging away at that mystery (too). Unless you tell me you think it's wonderfully serendipitous too...gonna bite? No? Oh well....
Gonna be tough to decide which print to order...
I know what you mean. Mark's asked me to pick some favorites to test with a new large-format printer, but even without the pressure of it being a purchase, I'm still dithering and unable to make up my mind.
BTW, there are, I think, around 200 images on the site, and that's become our unofficial quota--more than that, and Mark is supposed to remove some to make room. It's been tough on him getting it down to 200...the original collection was more on the order of 600. Count your blessings...you don't have to pick 400 images for the cutting-room floor.