What is my favorite website? If you asked me based on which site I use the most, then Google. If you ask based on which site I spend the most money, then eBay. Being in the website business sometimes people would think that I'd have really nerdy hard to use sites that I go spend money at or use to look for things, but that is not at all the case. In fact most of the time I want to find a simple site that I can quickly find what I'm looking for and is easy to use. Most online shoppers are the same way. Many websites are designed by small companies and the nerd building the site is arrogant enough to think the site itself is the focus. They will build a site with moving navigation, and sound effects that try to say look at how cool this site is. They will create a site looks great in the process, the problem is it distracts the user from the real reason why they are there. It is like the annoying sales person that won't shut up long enough for you to actually ask a question about the car you want to buy. A successful website like Google is simple and completely focused on what you came to the site for; in Google's case searching. No distracting unnecessary design, just the basics. Based on my browser history here is a list of sites that I go to frequently in order of most used. If you look at them you will probably notice they are mostly very simple. (click read more)

1. Google.com
2. Mininova.org
3. Ebay.com
4. youtube.com
5. hot-deals.org

My point is this. I work at Kirkham Systems and we build websites that are intended to be simple and successful, not complicated and annoying.