We've learned that good design requires a certain balance of form and function. I really enjoyed playing with the form elements and seeing what specifically helped make a site successful. On the Louis Cruise Lines website the function of the site is strong, but still reliant on form. Once elements such as images or color were removed, the functional elements were less user friendly. The Louis Cruise Lines site uses form such as color blocks to segment links into separate categories. Once the color is removed the links become confusing and easy navigation is lost. So, although the functional elements were unaltered, the usability of the site was greatly effected.
The CSS Zen Garden site still works seamlessly with the form elements removed. It is nice to have that kind of reliability if a certain aspect of your site isn't working. It's smart that the formatting is not messed up when elements are removed. By following the CSS standards you are assuring that the form will not distract from the function of your site.
I too experienced the "less user friendly" aspect of stripping down the Royal Caribbean site. Stripping away the images and color made it difficult to know where the links were!
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