unionrdr is referencing beer's intolerance for light, specifically UV light. You really never want to let your beer see any light from brew day until it hits your glass. If it gets exposed, the UV will cause some 'skunky' off flavors. If your primary vessel is a plastic bucket, this won't be as big of a problem as it would have been in a carboy, but still something to be aware of. Ferment in dark places with consistant temperatures (the interior of your house, closet, basement, etc) if you can.
Now, about your fermentation, it is unusual that it would fail to ferment at all during the 8 days it was in primary. What yeast did you use? If it was right next to a window it might have gotten too cold and caused the yeast to go dormant. You may have also not pitched enough yeast, pitched it too hot/cold, not had enough o2 in the beer, etc. One way or another, it sounds like you stressed out the yeast to the point where it gave up. Transferring to your secondary may have resuspended the yeast enough to get it started again.. but it's hard to say with the details you have provided.
As mentioned above, give it some more time (at least another two weeks), and try to keep the temps consistent. This batch may not turn out perfect but it sounds like you'll have beer at least.
If my speculations are correct, next time you will be able to significantly improve your product by being a little nicer to yeast. I'd suggest you read up a little on fermentation.. here are a few topics to investigate.
* pitching enough yeast
* fermentation temperature control
* aeration
Best of luck, and enjoy your beer!