Consistency in Web Design
Web sites are of many forms, functionality and design. This is in part what makes the Web exciting environment for the Web users. There are backgrounds and tiled image backgrounds in all the colors and patterns under the sun. Some Web sites are Flash based with fascinating graphics while others are pure text with conservative layout and everything in between. Links are underlined or not and in many colors depending on the overall design. Is all this variety good for the Web user?
If all Web sites were of similar design using the same navigational and content structure then it would be very easy for the Web user to get to the information he/she wants, but it would make the Web less appealing and even confusing. It would blur the unique characteristics of individual Web sites and the Web users would have a hard time to distinct between Web sites. However, it is possible to design Web sites using principles that provide the Web user with consistency without sacrificing Web site specific characteristics.
One simple example is to use underlined links. The Web user expects links to be underlined. Underlined links informs him/her that the text is clickable. Using colors instead of underlined links to differentiate between normal text and links may look great for the overall design, but it might be difficult for some Web users. What if he/she is colorblind and cannot see the links in the same colors, as others will? Using consistency in linking content on a Web site will help the user a lot and using proven patterns such as underlined links will help the user even more.
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