ZeaLitY and I were chatting about the new design, and he directed my comments here. So:
I still don't like those diagonal lines in the background. The font isn't very creative--what does it take to get amateurs to show a little love for something other than the default font?--and I'm not sure the "Chrono Compendium" logo is sufficiently prominent. The colors I actually like; if they were a shade or two lighter, that would make the black font easier to read. I like the banner design. You're right that the navigation console at the top is too small; the boldface makes it look squishy and illegibile. News update titles should be a different color than black; like (very) dark green (as we have in the forums), (very) dark red, or (very) dark orange.
Overall, not bad. It feels kind of cold. Kudos for not going "dark" like many communities are wont to do.