Why Consistency is Critical

[ArticleBot]

This is an article discussion thread for discussing the SitePoint article, "Why Consistency is Critical"

[realestate]

I think most confusing thing in a website is
a link to an external site. User may not know he is leaving the site, and that ad is not the content he is looking for. Better not to add any ads unless obviously they are ads, for maximum consistency.

Oh the irony. This article with radio buttons that popup a new window ... I've no idea if my rating was actually counted, or if I have to click the wubmit button in the popup window.

And why is the text in this comment box coming out white on white?

[WindUpDoll]

A nice reminder - especially the section on voice. I think sometimes when you're engrossed in a topic, it's easy to forget that not everyone is so engaged. Even a little confusion can be enough to turn off a visitor - and turn away a potential customer.

[peach]

I think the dumbest thing you see on the net is websites that dont have a consistent color scheme. Its really annoying to see a website turn blue and then red and then green.

[Young Twig]

Consistency is one of my biggest concerns with websites. It's ironic, though, that my logo happens to be in the bottom left of the screen.

Great article, however I wonder about background color, it is almost always glowing white, why not use any other color?!

Consistency is important and can be expressed even within different color schemes but consistent feel / function within a site. In other words, consistency does dot really limit the design element. It merely reinforces it.

[stoavio]

Great article! I'm currently working on developing our company's website with a coworker and I often times find myself at a loss of words when trying to explain my reasoning behind the different approaches and methods I choose when presenting our content and structuring the website. I'll definitely be linking him to this article with hopes that it’ll put us both on the same wavelength.

Very well written and informative article. Thank you!

define integrity in database?
give with an example?

Good read. The challenge is to innovate around the consistency. Also there is an opportunity to look at consistent patterns and explore how the user experience could be improved longer term.

[flash2]

good! direct to the point.

consistency work on database as well:

if you have 3 tables: Item, Bill and Bill Detail

you should name your tables/field under same rules:

example: items, bills, billdetails
example: Items, Bills, BillDetails
bad example: ITEM, Bills, BillDTL

note: for all the name with "s" or without "s" might make confuse

for field name:
Table Items: Code VARCHAR(30), Name VARCHAR(100)
Bad Example:
Items: Id VARCHAR(10), CODE VARCHAR(30), name VARCHAR(100)
BillDetails: ItemCode VARCHAR(30), statusCODE VARCHAR(10), ...



for field type, if you assign your "Code" fields for VARCHAR(30), please use ALL "Code" field for VARCHAR(30), unless for some other reason

[InternetWorksInc]

Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

[redux]

Originally Posted by InternetWorksInc

Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

aeh...well, thank you for your valuable and multi-faceted contribution.

[Jenny McDermott]

The Mont Blanc site is an example of how not to use Flash. It provokes one of my pet peeves, which is involuntary sound files. The other residents of the cube farm I work in might not want to hear music coming from my computer, especially when they're on the phone. If you have to have a music file, give users a button to turn the sound on or off at will.

The site is so poorly thought out it would be nearly as bad if it was plain html. For several screens I was wondering if the company sold airplanes, luggage, watches, or pens. I'm fairly certain now they offer both watches and pens but I'm not sure about the other two.

by the way, I love Flash, I use it on the site I maintain, but only in small pieces and with plain text equivalents as backup. Sites like that one give us all a bad name.

[InternetWorksInc]

Originally Posted by Jenny McDermott

The Mont Blanc site is an example of how not to use Flash. It provokes one of my pet peeves, which is involuntary sound files. The other residents of the cube farm I work in might not want to hear music coming from my computer, especially when they're on the phone. If you have to have a music file, give users a button to turn the sound on or off at will.

Webmasters who include involuntary sound should be pilloried. It's despicable that sound in pages, flash, etc. can't be disabled.

It is a bad idea linking to metlink's website, unless XSS should be consistent across transit sites. This is a known issue with their site which they refuse to fix, check out an example at http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/timetables/timetable_options.php?type=%22%3E%3Cscript%3Elocation.reload();%3C/script%3E&id=MTB200

[Athorn4941]

I thought it was a good article. Could have gone in more depth though.

Also sometimes it is good to break from consistancy otherwise everyones websites would look the same. Inovation comes from break the rules.

Athorn4941 - is all depends on your sites scope - if its a main stream e-commerce store then going from the norm is a road too disaster - see boo.com and their boo bag. If your site is an edgy online magazine yep why not mess around with layout. It all depends on the scope & user profiles of the audeience.

That said I hate it when MS mess about with windows consistency just for the sake of it - XP is a right pain in you grew up on NT4.0 W2K. And I find all the office 2003 applications difficult to use because they made all the icons different, and broke the rules of icon design.

Excellent article! One of THE best I've read here on information design.

His points on information design, the placement of information, are VERY good. The information design should be focused to the site's goals and the profiles of the users. If the users rely on well established information design conventions, or you figure that they would and it would help them to use the site, then layout the information for them. That's why it's important to profile your users, why they'll come to the site and what they'll do there.

If the site is going to have specific uses that users are already familiar with, it's true; they aren't going to want to think too hard about using them again. They come to use. Consistency is cool.

I read a book once that said that the information design has to be intuitive because your website doesn't come with instructions. And if came with instructions, no one would read them. I think it's true.

I think it's important to do your information layout and the visual design layout seperately. The visual design shouldn't dictate the information layout but if you do them at the same time, it can happen. You creative mind will direct the traffic. You'll end up with great visuals, something looking super cool, but a site that people can't use.

Great article! And this is coming from a designer. Sorry about the ranting... !

Great article...very clear, put together in a way that it's easily understood. Thanks

Thanks Gerry, all the arguments I need when discussing usability and accessibility (especially WCAG checkpoint 13.4 & 14.3)

[ToddW]

Awesome article.
These type of articles are nice resources to use to help convey a point to someone else who does't "grasp" what you (me) are saying.

Thanks again!

[mruserinterface]

Consistency is part of a more important concept - predictability. You can be consistent with bad things as well as good. Making things predictable provides the necessary balance to consistency.

[Egor]

Excellent Article! The principles of consistency are common-sence really, as they are applied to more-or-less everything in life, yet, still, too many choose to make their site a circus show. :)