1. Look at your page. Do you see the problem with the color of the links against a black background?
2. If you want to experiment, look into downloading XAMPP (free). Gives you a local webserver, PHP, Perl, and MySQL database. You can test things out without being on the internet.
3. If you have IE, try getting Firefox (and maybe Crome) to see how the page looks in different browsers. (I understand that you might not be able to install software, so #2 and #3 are just suggestions).
4. Content is most important. Then readability (ie colors and fonts). Then navigation (so they can find the information). Last is the flashy stuff. I prefer a clean, minimalist approach for content such as yours.