Focus on Value
The main purpose of most websites is to create value for the site's creators. In order to do this, however, the website also needs to provide value for its users. This value is hardly ever aesthetic. Few (if any) users have the time or inclination to visit a website simply to admire its beauty. A web user is usually seeking the solution to a specific problem—finding details about a certain topic, making a purchase, using a service, and so on. The main task of website design is to make this solution as easy as possible for the user to reach; anything that gets in the way of this goal limits the success of the site.