Ask HN: What are your favorite / least favorite site layout styles?

I'm a coder, not an artist. I find myself spending too much time agonizing over how to make my sites look. I thought I'd ask folks what they preferred.

For example, what width? I've recently begun using the 960.gs grid system (960 px wide). I notice that most new sites are still using something narrower. Is 960 still considered by most to be too wide?

How about framing the content like hacker news does, vs an open format like Google does? Again, I notice that most new sites seem to be abandoning the framing, in favor of the open style, or a hybrid style, where the header is open, but there is framed content underneath.

Then there's the whole landing page business. Do you clutter up the landing page with information like 37 signals, or do you leave the landing page uncluttered, with a prominent link to the "sales page" like dropbox does?

I know this is all just personal taste, opinion, etc, but I'd be interested in yours.