@WardLarson - I put a lot of useful intstruction in the article. It may not be news to you, but the reason I write this kind of stuff is to help thousands of people out there who aren't as perceptive as you are when it comes to knowing what works and why. I've never come across an article that says *why* these features work (if they do!), so I wrote one.

If the rest is obvious to you, good for you. You're clearly above the target level.

I don't think I said that star badges are cool or cutting-edge. In fact, I think I said they're in danger of seeming tired to the general web community (which happens much later than it does with web designers).

@AndrewR: I'm not saying that everyone should conform. I go to some length at the beginning of the article to say that you don't *need* all these features, and throwing them all into a design doesn't necessarily make that design good. However, if you understand what they are, why they work, then you can use your own judgement as to whether a feature will work in the context of what you're doing. I have tried to impart information to help people make balanced judgements here.

Regarding conformity, there are benefits. Originality isn't always a good thing. It's to be used at the right time, when a new problem calls. Read this article for my opinion on the pros & cons: http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/...e_original.cfm

Cheers,

Ben