Consistency = Clarity in Web Design

In the Intermediate Dreamweaver class, we use Dreamweaver to implement solid design practices. One of the most important things we can do as a web designer, is to ensure that our web sites are clear and easy to navigate. In the lessons, we talk about using conventions to avoid confusing our users. Consistency is the cornerstone of conventions. Viki talks about the importance of consistency in web design in her blog.  She uses her real life example of an online shopping experience and how inconsistencies impacted her buying. Although we aren’t doing any ecommerce in the intermediate Dreamweaver course, we still want our users happy and sticking around. Web is designed for quick use. Even if we spend hours surfing the web, we don’t want to spend hours trying to navigate a single web site. We want to quickly know if that site has something that we need or interests us. Then, we want to know that the information is accurate and consistent and that we can navigate the site easily.

When designing your web site, keep in mind consistency and conventions to increase the clarity of your design.