There are a lot of features in a well designed cracker house that work together. The first is simple site selection and orientation. On the east and west sides overhangs work with hedges to provide filtered light early and late int he day and shade mid-morning to evening. Relatively unshaded windows are located on the north side to catch the soft and cool light.
Ceilings are tall to allow warm air to rise. Windows are tall, typically double-hung so that the screens are at or near ceiling level to keep from trapping hot air. The bottom sash is usually left open so cool air can flow in to replace hot air that exits.
Many modern windows are single-hung so only the bottom half opens. Which means that the volume of air from ceiling down to the opening is trapped. Houses burdened with such windows are pretty much impossible to cool without resort to AC.
Raised floors, typically a couple feet above ground level, allows ventilation, keeps the wood structure dry, helps keep bugs and snakes out, and allows for moderate flooding. What it costs you not going the cheapest route, OGS, On Ground Slab, you can often save in being able to easily route utilities, water lines, power, ducts, under the floor. The original Florida crackers were well aware of rising water and houses near creeks might be four to six feet above ground level.
Many traditional cracker houses have fairly steep galvanized steel roofing that speeds air flow. The roof often includes a cupola with wide and widely spaced louvers and perimeter vents that serves to provide much more ventilation than normal. On a hot summer day there can be a good breeze blowing near the cupola. The cupola sometimes had a sheet metal pan suspended under it with a copper drain draining to daylight to handle any water blown in.
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