Here are some pitfalls to avoid if you want a popular site!

Blinking text or images
Aargh! Blinking text and images that keep on flickering really get on people's nerves. Please don't use them! Use bold or larger text to make your point clear.

Using frames for the sake of it
Don't worry - we all do it. We think 'How do I make my site better? I know - I'll use frames!' Not a good idea unless you have a good reason to do it. A good reason is to hold a very long list of links or as thumbnails for large images. Just holding four links is not really a good use of frames. It just slows down browsing as uses up space. You can use tables instead, as mirrormere.com does.

Tickertape status bars
They are clever the first time you see them, but not the fourty-first. The most annoying thing is that you can't see where the next link goes to!

Huge image maps
Small image maps can be useful for navigation, but ones that take three minutes to load and provide no alternative links are just annoying.

Loud background music
Try to avoid background music as much as possible, and if you have to put it make sure it is quiet. If you suddenly hear heavy metal music blaring out of your speakers at full volume, you can be sure that most people won't come there again.

Forcing your viewer
You just can't expect your viewer to download huge files or plug-ins, resize their window or change settings just to see your site. You can certainly tell them that it would look better that way, but you can't force viewers to do anything. They'll just go away. Even if your page genuinely does look better in a particular browser (I recommend Internet Explorer for mirrormere.com - it displays the changing link colour properly) make sure it will gracefully downgrade, and certainly work, in other browsers.