Versatility By Design

Something we seem to be seeing a lot of recently in web portal designs is a level of versatility in the design which give way to some user customization of the interface. Take for instance, msn.com, which allows the user to select from one of five color themes. The structure and layout of the site does not change, only the color scheme. The recently redesigned Yahoo portal, yahoo.com, gives the user another page option outside of the color palette; the user also has the option to modify the page layout by selecting either the wide or narrow layout. A similar concept can be applied to any high traffic portal such as a company Intranet depending, of course, on the company size and the level of user interest in such a feature.

In effect, the designers are creating a shell onto which various skins can be applied. Such versatile and extensible designs are not easy to come by. Its a challenge to design for the masses. So, by offering these various GUI options, such portable designs increase their odds of appealing to more users.