The details aren't important
I'm sure that many of you read that title, and thought "Of course the details are important. Everyone knows that". And you'd be correct, as the details are important - it's just a question of which details.
You see, with a website it's a simple fact that some details are more important than others; indeed some of the details are practically irrelevent once you think about it. The problems begin when the wrong details get emphasised, leaving the critical ones to be forgotten. This is an easy trap to fall into, as past articles have illustrated - without experience in our field, it can be very difficult to identify which specific areas your attention should be focussed on.
So, which are the important details? Realistically, there is only one - content. Everything else is, or at least should be, secondary. That isn't to say that everything else is on an equal footing, because it isn't - accessibility and usability clearly rank above other aspects - just that content is the driving force.
By this point I imagine that you're thinking that I haven't actually mentioned any details yet; either that or I clearly don't know what "details" means. However, that is exactly my point - the important details are not what you might initially think of as being details. Acceptable content for a website is relatively easy to create, but creating great content is something else entirely. And yet, you might find that only a few changes are needed to make that change - the details are what make the difference. This applies equally to accessibility and usability; indeed the details are the essence of usability.
In short, the important details in a website aren't really "details" at all - they are fundamental parts which you must pay attention to. Focussing on other aspects, whilst ignoring those fundamentals, is just a waste of time.