PSDtuts offers a helpful list of 9 essential principles for web design. It is a good reference for any church web designer or communications team looking to develop or overhaul their church website. Here is a quick overview with highlights:

1. Precedence (Guiding the Eye)
   The user should be led around the screen by the designer.
2. Spacing
   Spacing makes things clearer.
3. Navigation
   Buttons to travel around a site should be easy to find - towards the top of the page, easy to identify - they should look like navigation buttons, and well described - the text of a button should be pretty clear as to where it’s taking you.
4. Design to Build
   It’s really good to know what can and can’t be done, which is why I believe all web designers should also build (code) sites, at least sometimes.
5. Typography
   Different types of fonts say different things about a design. Make sure your text sizes are consistent, large enough to be read, and proportioned so that headings and sub headings stand out appropriately.
6. Usability
   With so much information and interaction to be effected on a website, it’s important that you, the designer, provide for it all.
7. Alignment
   You should go through and try to keep things consistently placed on a page. Aligning makes your design more ordered and digestible, as well making it seem more polished.
8. Clarity (Sharpness)
   Keeping your design crisp and sharp is super important in web design.
9. Consistency
   Everything should be themed to make your design coherent between pages and on the same page.

This is just a quick glimpse of the article. Be sure to visit PSDtuts to read the full explanation for all 9 principles of good web design.