Consistency
Provide a help link on every page
Place a help link in the upper right corner of every page. This way, when users need help, they know where to find it. Make help the central place for various help tools: help text, tutorial videos, live chat, question submittal form and so on. It is best if your help pages are context sensitive and display information about the page the user was viewing when he or she clicked the help link. It is also nice to display help in a smaller popup window so the user can continue to view the rest of your website.
Use consistent design elements
Across all pages of your website use fonts and colors consistently for a uniform and professional appearance. Also strive to be consistent in the layout of pages, use of terminology or wording, and how your site allows users to interact with it.
The KAIST Digital Science Library website, demonstrating consistency in design, is available at
www.kaist.edu“The Elsevier offer to evaluate our library website was very helpful. This was the 1st time we have done something substantial to evaluate our website (although we know our site is not perfect). No other vendor does, or has offered to do something of this kind for us. The review was free, which was very welcome of course (we would normally have expected to be charged for something like this). We are very happy with the professional manner in which the review report was presented, via an online meeting, as well as the subsequent follow-up presentation in person.”
— Agnès Ponsati (2004), CSIC Libraries Coordination Unit Director, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
Subscribe for Free
View PDF
Send to a Friend
