Web Design:Things to Avoid

I read this article about mistakes to avoid when designing a website: "10 Things NOT to do When Designing a Website". It share these tips:

• Don't clutter your site with tons of adds, images, text, etc. Keep it simple and easy to look at.
• Don't use flash intros. They take too much time to load and play. People will get board and move on.
• Don't use uncommon navigation. Make it easy for people to find and use your navigation.
• Don't include unnecessary gadgets (widgets, counters, etc) Only include them if the user absolutely needs them. Otherwise they take up space and time.
• Don't include music without controls. Allow people to turn off the music if they want to.
• Don't use images instead of text. This will make your website hard to search.
• Don't use crappy photos. Bad photos make it look like you don't care about your site.
• Don't use really large images. This increases loading time of the page. People will get board and move on.
• Don't use tables for layouts. This makes updating the site more difficult.
• Don't use too many colors. It can be hard on the eyes and ugly. Keep to a simple color scheme.

I had already known about a few of these ideas, such as not cluttering the site, not using bad photos, and not using too many colors. Those are good principles of design in general. However, some of these ideas were new to me, such as not using a flash intro. I hadn't thought of how much loading time those things take. It's true though, that you tend to get board if they last too long. I personally feel they can work sometimes, if they are particularly entertaining, and only for certain kinds of websites. For example, they would be more acceptable in personal portfolio sites, than commercial sites. I agree with the idea about the music. I know I can't stand it, when I can't figure  out how to turn it off. I think this also applies to videos. There's nothing quite so annoying as a video or add you can't turn off. Overall, I'd agree with most of these points the author is making. It seems that the key to making a good website is to make it as user-friendly as possible.