Zeldman offers a rich history of web design as well as a comparison between the complexities and basics regarding successful web design in his article Understanding Web Design.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the article as a whole is his emphasis that no one individual is correct about the right way to create a website. Web design is an intricate process that requires appeals to aesthetics, structural continuity (or discontinuity if that’s what one is going for), individuality and mass appeal. Zeldman discusses the critics in detail and how there is a cycling generational group of judges that are the experts on web design, but as the trends and common concepts associated with web design rapidly change, no one individual (or group of individuals) can be a judge. There are no set of rules that one must abide by to successfully design a webpage, but there are a series of guidelines that one must adhere to, a set of norms that one should agree with lest he create a site that would commonly be viewed as juvenile or poor.
His biggest emphasis in this regard is through typeface. He discusses in depth the proper ways to approach your typeface and how typography can make or break your design. he discusses the themes of neutrality (Helvetica) and how they can be good for most websites but do not have the “it” factor that many web designers are looking for. Perhaps the best way to approach this problem is to continue using typefaces that will not be opposed to by anyone but to make sure the personality that one’s site has resonates throughout. In today’s web design world, personality is one of the biggest factors in setting your site apart, even if it is a standard site with little different to offer physically.