This question is for hackers and designers.
When launching a site, there is a debate of what features to have and what features not to have. Some features/flows/pages are specific to the site. But, there are common features/pages all sites must have. And some features are definitely a NO.
First time launcher can make a mistake of having or not having a feature.
Can you help identify the list of "MUST HAVE" and "MUST NOT HAVE" features for a site?
I'd say it's very important to focus on usability (navigation, layout, flow) - without proper implementation people will sometime just quickly scan and close the website almost immediately.
Depending on the website I'm working on, navigation usually includes a 'public' menu (main tabs), 'personal menu' (profile/log out), 'reverse navigation' (breadcrumb), 'section' menu (back-end tabs) and occasionally a 'contextual' menu (in content).
If you think along the lines of domain driven design, it is easy to spot different contexts at work.
A very important aspect of any website (and design) is consistency.
Pages would generally consist of at least a Home (sometimes used as a lead page), Lead page/s (where visitors land when clicking ads - sometimes the home page is used instead), Product pages (depending on the company, products or services can be listed here) and a Contact us tab.
The 'about us' should be evident throughout the entire design. Quite a few times I've seen the 'about us' page act almost entirely as a page where potential clients can find the physical address of a shop or service (sometimes include contact information).
Hope this short list helps you out, but that should at least get you started.