What makes a site a good one?

As i am a new designer i want your opinions on what a good site is.
I mean all starting from colors and ending with navigation.

I wish I could tell you there's a formula for success. That if you use red and blue with 15 point helvetica or something, you'd always have a great site. But the reality is, great sites start with great concepts. They deliver a unique experience or tell a great story. They showcase what a person or company does without stepping over itself. There are a million different ways to make a site good, but they all start with the same thing, a good idea. So always ask yourself what it is you want the site do be about and how you can visually reenforce that idea. How you can push it further and make it more interesting and how as a whole, it delivers on whatever it is that it should deliver on.

Thanks exo for your opinion.
What i would like to know is what you all consider a good site.

I think a good site, is a site that informs the visitor fast with whatever they came to the website to know. Things that can make them close the window and run: poor navigation, uncontrollable pop-ups, ugly colors, music on launch (without a button somewhere to turn it off), small font, a site not working properly in a browser, a a site that isn't sensitive to dial-up users, a thousand other things. As for colors, maybe colors that evoke a certain emotion that you want the visitor to have are good for a site. A visitor needs to know when a site is professional, personal, fun, or serious. Color has a lot of influence on that.

That's my lil opinion... I'm not sure if you want more specifics...

A good site is one that:
-is simple
-is usable
-displays the information it contains in an easy to read format
-contains a well constructed architecture

As exo said, there really is no secret format. You just need to know what you are doing and be able to sit back and ask questions that the average user might think about.

I'll echo the thoughts of those before me...

Clean, crisp and easy to view. - Subtle or solid backgrounds, the lighter the better IMHO.

Clearly marked navigation. - Include a site map or text navigation at the bottom of each page.

Well-written copy - Spelling errors, grammar errors, slang and 'net-speak' are to be avoided particularly if the site is for the general public. If you're running a gamer's forum or something similar then the slang of the genre would probably get a pass.

I think functionality and content is key. Everything after that is a matter of what makes a good site *design* rather than merely a good site.

A good site is the one that has balance.

A good site is one that harmoniously converges balance, space, simplicity, and engagement (good rules for any design.)

I think the most important rule of any good site is to have user friendly navigation. Especially when it comes to information-heavy websites. Even if a website isn't aesthetically pleasing, a clear, consistent navigation along with properly tiered information will most likely keep your user on your site. Whereas a confusing navigation will most likely cause your user to give up and move on to the next site. Case in point - Does anyone remember how yahoo.com used to look? It was pretty cluttered with an information overload. Since they've revamped it's not as bad. Isn't it amazing how Google has become the leader in search engines - and all their website has is a search bar and five main links. Now that's simple!

I think another important aspect is that the site accurately reflect whatever you're trying to market, or whoever you are trying to market to. A site that markets to 15 year old girls should look much different than a site that markets to 45 year old men.

I think that a good site is a site where you can find information fast, it has a nice style, and if its really clean.

I think a good site should be laid out like a good book. Your home page being the Title and Table of contents. Bringing notice to the climax area of the site, the meat, or body, etc.
And leave the customer with a feeling that they can come back at anytime and feel the same way everytime the visit it or reread it.
Dan

Thanks for your opinions.
I'd like to know more opinions, and not just from the new guys.

A good site is the one you had a lot of fun doing it and yet it doesn't look like a bad make-up

Always put yourself at the visitor’s place. Some of the designs you really like and love haven’t the same effect on the visitors. When you make something, show it to different people and get for yourself their opinion. The website is not only for you! Everyone has seen tons of trash-sites over the net. Just try to stay away from their designs. They are good lesson. Don’t go too much with design itself but the exactly amount the site needs. “Fancy” doesn’t always mean “awesome”. Depending on the site use and purpose, you must find the right design and its amount, that the visitors related to the site will feel themselves comfortable and will spend as much time is possible there. LET THEM STAY THERE AND MAKE THEM COME BACK AGAIN SOON.

Simple a good n perfect site , is the one that is original and not a replican of something else, be different it will be noticed

I've been thinking a lot about this recently. I've never been keen on web development, personally, so have concentrated mostly on my portfolio I have printed out.
My own personal opinion, after thinking about it, would be simplicity is key to a good website. With personal websites, and websites focusing on specific things, that is not necessarily true, but with 99% of professional websites, the content is what is important, and to distract from that too much can cost you business. People want information, and they want to find that information within 2 clicks, bright contrasting colours are a big no-no, you dont want your visitor covering their eyes while they click frantically on the "back" button. Keep it as simple as possible for the end user, easy to understand, easy to navigate, easy to look at, without distracting from the product or service you're trying to sell.
If you had asked me the same question just 2 years ago I would have thought the graphics on the web site had to be amazing to look at etc, now I avoid graphic intensive layouts as much as possible. Simple, fast, informative works best IMO.

I'm more or less with illumina. I hate it when you have to slick like 3 gazillion times just because someone wants to give you a more customized web experience. Sometimes you need jsut need to anticipate what a person wants to see when they click a certain link, then offer special options on the side.

Overall, I think a good website is one that follows these basic rules:
- it loads fast
- navigation is easy to use
- basic functions (one used a lot) are clearly outlined
- the information is presented in a pleasing manner

Usability and Profitability

Everything else goes under those categories.

Discovery
Gathering Information
Understanding Your Audience
Identifying Your Backend
Programming needs
Analyzing Your Industry

Planning
Creating Schedules
Assigning Your Project Team
Setting Up Staging Areas
Planning for User Testing
Assembling a Project Plan

Clarification
Determining Overall Goals
Preparing a Creative Brief

Kicking Off the Project

Basically, Work, Orginization, Creativity and Fun
(i use this pattern at work)