Prioritizing Web Usability
Prioritizing web usability should be one of the first considerations of web site design. However, unfortunately this is often not the case. More often than not, the various stake holders who have an interest in the web site design are to busy prioritizing their specific interests to give reasonable thought and consideration to prioritizing web usability.
Why Prioritize Web Usability
Ok who needs it? The web site looks real cool, it’s got great content and even some of the latest gizmos, and everyone involved thinks this is just one of the best sites to hit the Internet in years.
I hate to spoil the dream here but, does it work? Odd question you think? Does it work? Undoubtedly the rest of the office is sitting there going of course it works what a dumb question. Well guess what, the office has just identified one of the key points of usability. Dumb!
It all comes down to; Dumb down the web site. Usability Expert and Author Steve Krug said it perfectly when describing web site users “Don’t make me think”. Creating a web site to cater for “dumb users” is not necessary because Internet users are total idiots, it’s because in general the best way to describe an Internet users is someone on autopilot.
Internet users surf, click and browse scanning the content for something that attracts their attention or a link which they think will take them to what they are looking for. The amount of conscious thought which goes into this process is more instinct than thought. So in essence, prioritizing web usability is catering for the instinctual reactions of the web site users.
Web Usability Design for Instinctual Reactions
Prioritizing web usability design to cater to Internet users instincts is not at all difficult. A good starting point is thinking of your own personal use of a web site and how you interact with the web site. You want to navigate to another page. Where do you look? I could make a pretty good guess here that you will look for a navigation system either along the top of the page or on the left hand side. The other item you will be looking for is some of the text highlighted in blue, because you have become accustomed to associating blue text with a link. Well haven’t you?
I know this is a pretty basic example, but consider this. How do you think you would react to a web site that did not follow the conventions you are accustomed to for example, green link text and a small navigation system on the right side of the page? Confused? Annoyed? Or would you just say to yourself “This site is useless I’m going elsewhere?
So what happened? The site did not meet your expectations, you found it difficult to use (Anti-Usability) you are frustrated and leave, and you might just tell a few friends on the Internet about your poor experience. You get the idea now don’t you? It is imperative you prioritize web usability.
Usability Design Basics
Navigation: From the section above I would assume you have a pretty good idea on the basics of usable web navigation I will reiterate these here:
- Navigation on top or to left side
- Clearly labeled link titles
- Ensure page the link leads to matches link title
- Keep anchor text blue
Page Layout: I have often heard the comment Google has the most usable web pages on the Internet. So take a quick trip to www.google.com and have a look at some of the various news pages for example, news and consider what you see. Then consider what you don’t see.
What you do see is clearly labeled and concise web page content. You can scan the content quickly and determine what interests you. What you don’t see is a lot of web page noise similar to listening to a radio station from a distant location which includes a lot of static. Although www.yahoo.com has considered usability a brief look at their homepage does take considerably more effort to determine what interests you and how to get there.
Page Layout Considerations
- Minimalist design – use only what’s required and no more
- Use descriptive headings
- Create content that is easy to scan
- Clearly define what is a link and what is not
There are hundreds of usability issues which must be considered on every web site. Some seem small and of little consequence for example, the positioning of the Company’s tag line. It may not seem important however, the Company tag line if done correctly clearly states what the web page and the company is all about.
I could go on and on with various examples however, essentially a blog post is not the ideal method to provide such information.
How to Prioritize Web Usability
How to Prioritize Web Usability differs depending on the current web site status. If the web site is live ideally the first step would be to complete a Usability Analysis and some basic web usability testing. A web usability specialist is able to complete a visual Web Design Usability Analysis which identifies the usability issues on your web site. Often these reports are not as expensive as is often believed.
The ideal scenario would be Web Usability testing throughout the development stage of your web site prior to going live. Web Usability testing is an iterative process where you test fix and test again. In a Web Usability Laboratory testing can cost thousands of dollars. However, there are numerous simpler and much less expensive testing methods available.
How to Prioritize Web Usability with Testing
Next time I will provide some of the methodology and techniques used to enable you to do some basic usability testing at minimal cost. Any usability testing is better than none.
