What everyone else said. Personally, I think users should be able to shortcut to any featured or popular content, but at the same time be able to search the entire site regardless of what page they're at. The search box practice is pretty common now. Sometimes I'll be browsing through a site and find that menu/content categories are poorly setup/organized.

Whatever type of project I do, before I start drawing up a design or typing code, I'll sit down and try to find similar sites to look through and study. I'll take note of things that I would have done differently or wouldn't have done in the first place, or would have added. After that, I'll build on all the elements: from what I learned from studying other peoples work, the common things most coders/designers & users agree on, my own taste and tone, and of course the almighty knowledge needed to code/design in the first place. People always tell me they want a site like this or like that, but they really don't want a carbon copy. They want something better.