If you're using Internet Explorer, check your site in Netscape Navigator. If you're using a 5.0 browser, take a look in a 4.0 or 3.0 browser. You have to see your site through as many different eyes as you can to be assured the interface will work. If not, you may be shutting people out. Rather than a how-to book filled with code and instructions for more and more bells and whistles, your book concentrates on how the Internet is evolving, what kinds of problems exist, and how to solve them.
Most people visit a Web site to accomplish a goal.
I may be checking my stock portfolio or buying airline tickets, then the last thing I want is to be distracted with animation or music. But all the research I've done and seen has pointed to the customer experience as being the largest factor in branding. If you can't finish what you set out to do on a Web site, that will be all you remember. I speak at Web design conferences quite a bit. I really like public speaking, and feel pretty comfortable in front of an audience.