I believe a site should be made with a certain amount of humility. No one talks about humility as a virtue anymore these days, but I think it's still important. You should not have the hubris to think that the viewer owes you something, that you are gracing them with your insight and success -- you should never take the viewers attention for granted. You should be humble. You don't need to thank the viewer profusely. It doesn't come off as heart-felt over a computer link anyway. You should show your thanks more concretely. Give them what they want, ask as little of them as possible.

Don't put up technical barriers

You have probably gone to a site that makes you download a plugin, or that makes you pause for ten seconds while some Java Applet starts up. And when the applet started up, or after you downloaded the plugin, did you think "Yes! This makes it worth it!" I usually don't feel that way.

Okay, well I have once or twice. What point is there to visiting HotWired Animation Express if you aren't going to view the animations (and maybe have to download a plugin). And I must admit, vistprint.com has a pretty nifty Java Applet that helps you design your business card.

These justified uses account for a good 3-4% of the cases, in my experience.

When a person comes to your site, they should see what they want to see, right then, no restrictions. You shouldn't tell them that they should really be using Internet Explorer version 5.0 and above, at 800x600 resolution. What they use is up to them.

Admittedly, things have gotten a lot better since I started. Just about everyone is using a modern browser. New installations of these browsers include Shockwave and Flash by default, and usually RealPlayer too. A lot of the bit players have fallen by the wayside. Netscape has practically fallen by the wayside, for good or bad.

Make the site fast

People still use modems. They might be across oceans, with significant lag times. They might be using some old computer (especially if you are looking for a demographic that is using school computers or other academic environments). And even if they are using a new fast computer with a fast connection, they'll still appreciate it when your page loads instantaneously.

Images can be nice, but some designers use them to have complete control over the look of the site. The web isn't print, you can't have complete control without making big sacrifices. I don't think those are good sacrifices. An example would be Nike, which has no real text on their front page (they have images of text, which load slower but allow more control). But then, Nike is nothing without design...