Aesthetics

I think this is a really valuable reading.

This is something that applies not only to web pages, in fact it makes a lot of sense, for example:

Surprisingly enough to most MBA students, powerpoints should not be bullet load after bullet load of text on top of that the format should be similar from slide to slide to make the viewers feel involved and able to easily recognize the slides and information. This is true also of a webpage or any other display of text. text especially informative text needs to be displayed in a user friendly manner that reduces cognitive load. If something is easy to read and aesthetically pleasing a reader can learn more from ten words than ten paragraphs.

The rule of thirds is something I have encountered before in communications theory. I can't over emphasize the clean, visually pleasing use of the above the fold space of a website. Following the rule of thirds you can design a clean look for the fold space that the user will see upon entering the website or websites and this can make the experience much more pleasant overall persuading the viewer/user/reader to stay and browse around more.