Every list is just a set of rough guidelines to help you start thinking about usability and begin fixing small problems on your web site. Users have grown to expect certain things to be in certain place on the web, like having the logo in the upper left corner, or the search box on the top of the page. But some rules are meant to be broken. It’s your job to figure out what conventions to follow, when to follow them, and why you should follow or ignore the guidelines.
Even the best usability guidelines aren’t a substitute for thinking and talking to your users. Usability is all about meeting the needs of your user. Unless you spend time figuring out what those needs are, and how to best meet those needs, no number of quick fixes will help in the long run.