Active Server Pages 3.0 from Scratch

The Importance of Being Consistent

One of the most important design considerations for your Web site is consistency. In general, two types of users visit the Web: novices and experts, but all users appreciate a coherent site. Web design should give users a sense of place. You hear it in the language people use. They leave one site and go to another. If your pages look consistent, the visitors are comfortable knowing that they are still where they started out, that they weren't suddenly thrown over to another site without expecting it.

This sense of place is something that new users have particular difficulty with. Many of them think that the entire Web comes from their browser as in, "You have to get on Netscape; it's great!" Other users think ...