Consistency
“If in doubt, do it consistently.”
—A. Marcus, Graphic Documents for Electronic Documents and User Interfaces, p. 43
What do we mean by consistency?
How do you learn to use an application that looks different on every page? That uses icons for actions in some places, and links for the same actions in others? Or that applies colors and fonts unreliably, emphasizing content and features without any discernible rules?
You can, but it won’t be easy. To help users—and avoid common interface design mistakes—designers and developers need to establish rules for placement and treatment of interface elements and then stick to them. Just as you can’t speak in English, French, and German and expect to be clearly understood, you can’t ...
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