Depends on the type of site - commercial or non-commercial and the subject area. I do generally prefer simple yet powerful designs that make good use of colour. Still, a lot of dark designs do work well too as long as the text is easily readable.
but I have to add my choice always adds up to a few things ...
no more than 2 fonts
no more than 3 background colours (look at this forum layout)
no images in places just to fill gaps
There is always going to be exceptions ... I've even done some myself that break every one of those listed above ... but it depends on the site and the target audience
Starlord
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yea simple sites beat it all. look at google, microsoft, etc. theyre simple, yet they look good. even look on this site, theres like 4 or 5 different colors max.