On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:30:45 -0400, Paul wrote:

>The struggle you are expressing is a common one. Personally, I think it stems 
>from a misunderstanding of the word "consistency." 
If you interpret "consistent" as "things needing to be the same," then
you very quickly fall into the trap you describe. However, more
accurately, "consistency" is *as much* about "distinguishing things
that have good reason to be distinct" as it is about "making things
the same when they have no good reason to be distinct." As Jeff Howard
points out, your ability to express your rationale about things you
have made the same, and those you have made different, will help
communicate the consistency of your design to your project
stakeholders.

Partly. There are times when the user may not expect or predict, but
things have to make sense in context. If making sense in context means
presenting in an inconsistent way with other contexts, then why
wouldn't you?

Most days someone says to me 'but it's not consistent with how we've
done it somewhere else', and I say, 'but it works'.

*    Nick Gassman - Usability and Standards Manager - http://ba.com *
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