1. Have a clear purpose in mind.
Web sites should have a clear purpose for existing. They should concentrate on a particular theme or topic. The purpose of this web site is to summarize the principles of good web site and page design and to offer links to other sites which cover these principles in greater detail.
2. Know your intended audience.
Often the perceived correctness of a particular interface design is largely dependent on the personal preferences of the individual user. For this reason, an important first step in the design of a user interface is to know who will be using the interface.
3. Have a well structured site.
A user interface needs to communicate clearly with the intended user. In order to communicate clearly, a user interface should be well organized and structured. Web pages within the site should have a consistent and predictable appearance, so that it will be easier for users make sense out of the web site. The best approach is to consistently apply a few basic design principles to each web page in the site.
4. Make your site easy to navigate.
If your web site is going to be useful, it must be easy to navigate. Navigation occurs at two levels; within a particular web site and between web sites. Menus are often used to aid navigation within a web site. One way to enhance the navigability within a site is to include navigation aids such as "return to home page", "previous page", and "next page" links on each web page. This not only increases the navigability within your site, but allows users who enter your site on a page other than your home page, to easily find their way around. While you don't have control over other sites, you do have control over the links from your sites to other sites.
5. Keep your site current.
The World Wide Web is constantly changing, as new sites are developed and old ones are changed or go out of existence. It is up to you to keep your site current and accurate. Check your links from time to time to be sure that the external sites still exist, and add new links that are pertinent to your site's topic as you discover them.