Just read this article by Andy Rutledge in which he examines a couple of the inferior Web design conventions still ‘knocking around’ the web. He exposes their flaws and then suggests more effective alternatives to these conventions, explaining why they work better.
Do take a look at the link if you find web design issues interesting.
Bad Layout ConventionseXtensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) combines the strength of HTML with the power of XML, It is designed for Web clients that do not support the full set of XHTML features; for example, Web clients such as mobile phones, PDAs, pagers, and settop boxes. In addition, XHTML provides the framework for future extensions of HTML.