Superb hand-coded directory

Folks,

Rather than putting some script on my site, I'd like to have a shot at going completely the opposite way, creating a really superb handcoded directory, which is in-depth and includes some bells and whistles that scripts, for example, don't seem to offer.

So I'm just fishing for your thoughts etc, as to what a really authorititive directory would have that'd actually be truly helpful for visitors. Ie what are the little things that need to be on there that'll make a difference. it's almost an information design question, ie forget about 1 page with lots of links, I'd rather go for 1 page per link with lots of good text and outbound links in that page, to actual pages.

From an SEO pov some would say that's suicide, but then as far as I'm concerned that's what the web is all about and I'd like to actually provide a useful resource rather than a 'getting links' exercise. It's also going to be only concerned with a massively nerdy, irrelevant subject to 99.99999999% of the world, so it's not as if I'm out to rival anyone.

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated, example URLs (not live) of a fantastically designed and useful directory would be golden.

Thanks =)

the only directory i have ever liked is joeant
most likely because editors seem to keep it spam free and the categories are broken down so you dont get cats with 5+ pages to them..