Humans are strange creatures. We like things to be uniform in layout and we resist change. There is an axiom in Total Quality Management, William Demming's world wide accepted way to build a better you in the work place which goes, "People don't mind change, they mind being changed." I find that this simple statement holds true even in the way we surf a website.
When we first check out a new site, we look around for structure. Where are the links, how are images and text arranged and we accept this structure. Then we click on a link within that page and expect new imformation, but with similar design layout. We resist the need to look around for a common theme or structure, we want everything to have uniformity. It is change and we resist change.
Think of this. You sit down in your car and put the keys into the ignition without even looking. It may be hid well behind the steering wheel, but you never miss slam dunking your key in the hole. Now what happens when you borrow a car, where does your hand automatically go? Of course, to your car's ignition spot. Even worse, what would you do if every time you sat down in your car and the ignition was in a different spot? Believe me, you'd be looking for a new car in no time. We resist change. It's in our nature.
Keeping this simple, but powerful fact of human nature in mind, we can design web pages that assist surfing, not resist surfing. Sites that are human friendly are sites that have repeat visitors. We limit our own exposure as web site creators "IF" we fail to meet this minimum requirement of uniformity.
Style is an extention the way WE want to be seen and felt by others. It's our palette in which we paint a clear picture of the way WE see the world and more importantly the way in which WE want the world to see us. Keeping in mind that uniformity in structure appeals to human minds, we are only left with adding our feelings and our thoughts within page uniformity.
It is actually easier than it sounds, since we are humans too, we work well within structure. By putting a common theme to our pages, we remove any "excess need" to express our creativity in the "wrong place" and channel our creativity where it belongs, it the content of our pages them selves.
Which style works for us is a very unique thing. I have several basic page requirements that I strive to achieve. If I fail in meeting these requirements, I accept this failure as long as the page meets it's own purpose. It makes no sense to add images to a page which doesn't require them to fullfill the purpose of the page. There is no need to add links with in a page, just for the sake of adding links. Everything on your pages should have purpose to the page, not just an attempt to meet your desire of uniformity.
Pages are a complete thought. Images, links, design and feel are just
means at which to achieve the complete thought. Going over board often
causes confusion and defeats the purpose of the page. Thus it is important
to treat every page as an individual, but strive for basic uniformity.
It makes me think of the 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle of 101 Dalmations. Individually
each piece looks similar, but not exactly the same. But they all have common
themes and arrange in a logical order to express the finished puzzle. This
is your goal in designing your web site.
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