My father was a graphic designer, so I suppose I grew up taking it for granted that good design mattered.

So few people seem to understand this. They confuse broadcasting with communication - broadcasting is transmitting information to a wide audience. Communication is a two way street. It involves listening and reading as well as talking and writing.

Bad design is just like bad writing. It detracts from the reader's ability to grasp what the person creating the page is trying to communicate. Good design matters.

What prompted this thought? Well, let me just say that stuffing your html masterpiece with the maximum content is not designing a website. And it helps to spell the names of your contributors right.