14.3 Create a style of presentation that is consistent across pages

Present your pages in a constant, uniform way across the whole site. When you look at each page, check that:

• You use consistent colours, text styles, heading locations, graphics style and so on
• Text and audio content have a uniform tone of voice, structure and terminology
• Terminology is consistent
• The navigation is in the same place on every page. This allows users to find or skip navigation mechanisms so they can more easily find important content
• Links and navigation controls always do the same thing. Users who are not familiar with using computers or the web, users with learning difficulties or users in a hurry will all benefit from consistent navigation mechanisms
• Copyright statements, advertising and other navigation or end-of page features appear in the same place

The W3C also suggest the following CSS tips for maintaining a consistent style:

• Use a minimal number of style sheets for your site
• Use linked style sheets rather than embedded styles and avoid inline style sheets
• If you have more than one style sheet, use the same "class" name for the same concept in all of the style sheets