Hi Ainsley,
We’ve experimented with customization features on individual stores in the very beginning. Then, we quickly realized that giving those tools in the hands of individuals with various design skills and preferences is a mistake. We saw weird colors, huge letters, blocks of unformatted HTML and everything in between.
The main questions are - Why would we want implement those types of features? What would we gain by that?
I can see how Creators might want to play with colors and customize their stores... but would that benefit buyers?
I am afraid this "fusion studio" idea has a potential of deteriorating buyers’ shopping experience and turning any site into a “garage sale” type.
UI Inconsistencies is a big offender and is of major concern in the design of web systems. They create confusion and slow down the users at the time when they are trying to complete similar tasks.
Just imagine that each time a buyer is presented with the unique store design or a different page layout, he’ll require extra time to re-orient himself. The goal is quite opposite – to make their shopping experience as consistent and as predictable as possible. That would promote learnability of the entire system and help them to achieve their goals fast.
Anyway, that’s our view on this subject. Feel free to post your opinions. As always, we are willing to listen.
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