Thanks for the comments and advice folks... nice to have some experienced eyes looking over it
@WPExplorer:
CSS book on the way... College didn't really cover the section that well.
Which tables are we talking about tho? more than likely the one that the Nav bar is in right? confused me a bit as when i inserted the FW HTML it inserted in a table... is that normal or did I do something wrong?
Working on a css nav bar at the moment, so will update the site as soon as i get the hang of it. Are there any decent online tutorials for it?
@Lou
The hit counter was one of the requirements from the client. I didn't want it.
Will suggest getting rid of it in favour of analytics. I didn't know about it so very helpful advice there, thanks a mill
@Ignis
Cant take credit for the Doc type. Dreamweaver did that for me

Again tables... is this the nav bar one by any chance?
Good thing here is the "client" is related to my brother in law, so not under huge pressure to get things right first time. And he isn't paying me so i get to experiment as much as i want as long as the design is still something he wants.
Really appreciate the advice and comments... very helpful