That’s a good set of commandments. I try to keep up to date on web usability guidelines for both my own sites and for work. Normally I would say it’s really too bad that some web designers design for themselves. But then, the more that do so, the fewer people who will stick with their sites and the more that will head over to ours!
You just have to decide what the purpose of your site is… to be an artistic statement, to serve up content, to entertain or to sell something.