1. If your customers can't see it, it doesn't work.
	If you make your site hard to see, your customers will go to one that’s easier. You lose your audience. You lose sales. You lose out. Determine your audience and design for them. If they use 14.4, 28.8 and 56k modems, and browsers that range from IE 3, 4 and 5 to Netscape and AOL, then design for them, all of them. The same web we curse at when we surf, is the same one we have to design for.
	2. If it's a home page, everyone must see it.
	No matter what you do with the rest of your site, your home page has to be seen by everyone. It is your face to the world. You cannot use plug-ins your customers can’t use, or they’ll leave you. Unless every member of your audience can view FLASH animation effortlessly, you can’t use it on pages everyone must see. If your splash page, home page, or navigation device can only operate in FLASH, then you have to design something else, that anyone can see and use.
	3. If it's your product, it must be seen.
	You wouldn’t buy an invisible widget, and neither will your customers. Just as in your stores, you want to show everyone how good it looks -- you don’t hide it from them. So, don’t try to force your customers to download special software just to see your product. You’ll fail. They can find exactly the same kind of product on another site just a click away.
	4. Good web design is, first and foremost, good design.
	Good design is not dependent on software. Imagine Michelangelo refusing to complete David unless he could insert a sound file. Or Ansel Adams not photographing Yosemite if he wasn't allowed to do animation. All internet programs, like the old analog brushes, oils and cameras that came before them, are only tools which may or may not help execute good design.
	5. There is no substitute for a great concept.
	The concept opens the door between you and your customer and draws them in. It is what cements your brand in their minds. It drives the design, the copy and the form in which you present yourself. Every painting, billboard, illustration or great ad that ever captured your attention was the result of a great concept.
	6. Simplicity is the essence of great design.
	Simplicity forces focus. It allows your customers to make clear choices. Do they want to shop? Do they want to buy? Do they need help? A simple interface not only makes it easier for them to make choices, it makes room for you to establish your branding. Even the most complex paintings of the Renaissance presented a compelling focus then guided us through the rich iconography and imagery.
	7. E-business is, above all, business.
	In the real world of brick-and-mortar retailing, if you don’t make money, you’re out of business. Despite the huge losses reported in the initial years of e-commerce, the same exact rules holds true. If you want to stay in business, you have to do business. You have to move product. You have to satisfy your customers. You have to make a profit, and if you don’t, you have to close your doors.