>>18
What's the purpose of the site?
I like clean layouts without most modern cancer, and preferably with menu on right or left margin, instead of the top or bottom. Pic related is a decent example, even though I would get rid off the column on the right.
I hate sites that use hover to reveal submenus or for other functions. Same goes for "sticky" and "floating" menus or bars. They just take up valuable screen space, instead of staying in their place. It is pretty pointless functionality on pc, since space+shift or HOME buttons can get you to the top in less than a second anyway. Slow animations that waste time are another complaint.
Other things I think are bad:
>slide shows
>tiny buttons
>text and image shadows
>animations and videos that play automatically, especially when the site is text focused - exception are gif avatars and reaction images
>welcome image that forces you to scroll or click "visit" button to get to the actual website
>bunch of empty space (like twitter)
>information displayed only in a narrow area in middle of the screen (like twitter)
>endless scrolling
>pages that are not numbered, and your only options are "older" and "newer"
>tumlr's and pintrest's "tiles" system, where each post is a tile of varying size
>no search toolbar
>no margins at all
>oversized margins that take you to the home page if you accidentally click them
>random and timed pop-ups
When it comes to text, you definietely want contrast with background, but do not go overboard. Instead going black/white, you can use off-white, and grays of varying darkness.