I have a new article up over at EE Insider where I discuss the points I think dictate a quality site.
For me, it’s very important that all five items receive equal treatment wherever possible. I say wherever possible because when it comes to each of those items, it’s a rare thing when improving one doesn’t change the other. The key is to make your decisions with eyes open as to the full consequences.
For example, improving security on a website will, more often than not, increase the performance costs. Conversely, improving on performance can have negative effects on maintainability (especially with ExpressionEngine), while feature set takes away from maintainability, fingerprint, and security.
Read the full piece over at EE Insider.