5. Clarity

Keep it simple stupid - My favorite cliché.

Your users have to understand what your doing. Keep your message simple and clear. If you do a lot of writing on your site, be direct and to the point. Don't beat around the bush.

Try to use one word menus, and alt text for descriptions, or window.status Javascripts. As we mentioned before, try not to use too many colors, and try not to use contrasting colors. Your users should have an idea where to go and what to do on your site as soon as the page has loaded.

Don't put the same links all over the place. Keep links in one place, or duplicate text links at the bottom of your page for non-text browsers. Keep your links to the left, right, or top of your page, and content in the middle. If it doesn't seem like there's enough space to include a link you want, either make the space or lose the link.

Leave plenty of white space. Too many images and text together will confuse the user. Leave space in between. White space will direct the eye where it needs to go. Nobody likes 'busy' web pages.