After several frustrating minutes struggling to download personalized student loan forms today (a task that should have been easy), D. Keith Robinson's Web Design - Nail The Basics First seemed exceptionally important. From the article:
Web design and development don't need to be that hard. Begin with the basics, code your site with standards, learn how to write for the Web, talk to your users, keep your design simple and then, and only then, think about adding those special features that your users probably don't need or want.
On a related note, we've convinced several friends to try Mozilla, only to later hear the now tired refrain: "Some sites just don't work in Mozilla." It's a source of neverending frustration for us that these friends blame the browser and give up on it, never knowing the true source of their dissatisfaction.
D. Keith's comments (and the article that inspired them, Why personalization hasn't worked, by Gerry McGovern) relate perfectly feelings we've had for several years. We vaingloriously believe it will be a good day for the Web when large organizations start thinking like us small-timers.