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Web Design And Development: Web Usability — The Basics
Web site design tips at custom web site designer website
by Trenton Moss
What is Web Usability & Why is it Important?
Web usability is about making your website in such a way that your site users can find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits for your business.
- Every $1 invested in improving your website’s usability returns $10 to $100 (source: IBM)
- A web usability redesign can increase the sales/conversion rate by 100% (source: Jakob Nielsen)
Your Website Has to Be Easy to Navigate
Users have gradually become accustomed to particular layouts and phrases on the Internet. For example:
- The organisation logo is in the top-left corner and links back to the homepage
- The term “About Us” is used for organisation information
- Navigation is in the same place on each page and adjacent to the content
- Anything flashing or placed above the top logo is often an advertisement
- The term “Shopping Cart” is used for items you might wish to purchase
Break these conventions and you may be left with nothing but a website with poor usability and a handful of dissatisfied site visitors.
Pages Must Download Quickly
Usability studies have shown that users will wait a maximum of about 8 seconds for a page to download (source: Andrew B. King — Speed Up Your Site). To speed up the download time of your website we recommend three things:
- Use CSS and not tables to lay out your web page
- Use CSS and not images to create fancy navigation items
- Compress and optimise all images before uploading them
Web Users Don’t Read — They Scan
Unlike a book or a newspaper, the web is a lean-forward medium. People want information fast. They scan pages looking for keywords, headings, and bullet points. Make the most important information obvious:
- Use short paragraphs
- Use plain language rather than jargon
- Use bullet points and numbered lists wherever possible
- Use headings to split up large blocks of text
- Highlight key words in bold
Navigation Must Be Intuitive
Your navigation system should never leave users wondering where they are on the site or how to get where they want to go. Every page should include:
- A link back to the homepage
- A site-wide navigation menu in a consistent location
- Breadcrumb trails for deep content hierarchies
- A search function for larger sites
By following the basic principles of web usability you will be well on your way to creating a web site that is a pleasure to use and that converts visitors into customers.
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