Web Design - Best Practices

Recommendations for Current Web Design Practices:
- Keep content concise
- Avoid long articles
- Make the website easy to navigate
- Use visuals strategically
- Balance text/graphics/white space
- Make sure to have contrast between the content and background

Sources:
- http://mashable.com/2011/09/12/website-usability-tips/
- https://itservices.uchicago.edu/page/web-standards-checklist
- http://resources.di-creative.com/best-practices/

How do they compare with your top 3 websites?
Most of the websites I have selected for my top 3 list follow all the recommendations and tips from the sources above. The authors of these websites use those practices to keep their websites neat, easy to navigate, and efficient.