Instead of trying to constantly impress users with snazzy graphics and smooth flash movies lets go back to the basics and think about the what they like and what they hate. You may think your site is usable, good-looking, easily navigable and fast… but do your users agree?

So, here are seven things you can do to make sure your users stay for more than five seconds:

This has been around for a while (Probably since the days when WEB 2.0 was still in fashion), but I’ve only seen it utilised on various forums and a few informational sites in the past. Even though most browsers’ "find" function is only a couple of keystrokes away (ctrl+F) I think this search-term highlighting thing is really great and makes it even easier for the user to read and navigate the content of your site!

There is no doubt amongst web professionals that some browsers are simply better than others. Although we, as web developers are obligated to make our websites totally cross-browser compatible and completely functional on all platforms there is the question of whether it’s okay to selectively enhance the user’s experience (dependent on which browser they’re running).

Taking this function away from web developers through confrontation would be like taking candy from Rambo. When it comes to this particular topic web developers are as dense as bricks (no offence meant); they insist that the usage of new windows benefits the user. I am here to annoy all of you by saying that you’re wrong and that you should never use new windows… (Apart from a few tiny exceptions which I will mention later)