- I disable ALL nags. If there's a modal, slider, fixed bar, or fixed social element, I nuke it.
- If it moves, I nuke it.
- If anything is labled "viral", "tease", "nag", or "social" there's really good odds it's getting nuked. Really, stuff like that just makes it too easy, and I may add some wildcards to my default CSS.
- Unless it's a premier site (e.g., NY Times, the Guardian), I'll nuke the "Recommended", "Trending", "Most Viral", etc., columns.
- I'll strip any 3-column (or otherwise multi-column) format into a single column of body text, generally about 40-50 ems (about 850-1000px) wide. The LH column generally becomes a full-width header, the RH column a full-width footer. If they survive at all.
- Bump all fonts to 15pt (body text), 14pt (usually for overview pages), 10-12pt for most navigation elements.
- Backgrounds to to white or very close to it, text to black or very close. #fffff4 background, #222 foreground, is about as much as I'll push either.
I've noticed that the result is much more soothing reading experiences, with far fewer distractions. It literally affects my ability to focus and peace of mind. Had my stylesheet manager (Stylebot) blow up on me a week or so back, having to deal with The Web As Published ... just drove me nuts. Most site's design simply sucks.
I've got over 500 sites styled to my preferences (many are just very quick and light changes, a few more involved). The results are ... mostly pretty nice.
Among my favorites:
Buzzfeed: https://plus.google.com/photos/104092656004159577193/albums/...
Unbuzzed: https://plus.google.com/photos/104092656004159577193/albums/...
A 3-column to 1-column design:
3 cols: https://plus.google.com/photos/104092656004159577193/albums/...
1 col: https://plus.google.com/photos/104092656004159577193/albums/...
And this seems to kill the "Top 5 posts" bits:
blockquote.pullquote, blockquote.pullquote + p, blockquote.pullquote + p + p, blockquote.pullquote + p + p + p, blockquote.pullquote + p + p + p + p, blockquote.pullquote + p + p + p + p + p, blockquote.pullquote + p + p + p + p + p + hr { display: none; }