Usability in Web Design

Usability testing determines the success (or failure) of a website. Site visitors click through the site with the mouse and decide what the next step should be. Whether your site is a product driven site and the main focus is to generate a profit through people buying things, or a content heavy site with just loads of information to educate or get a point across, all site owners have one purpose in mind and a single goal to accomplish, how will the site visitor interact with the web site and how they think.

Everyone will interact and think differently. They think in all kinds of ways. You have the rational and irrational. You have people who think very quickly and some who take forever. In reality, users follow their intuition and it’s really unpredictable. All we hope for us to minimize any confusion and questions that could possible come up.

People in general glance at the page, scan the information instead of reading it, look for text, headings and interesting graphics, and act on the first links that is of interest to them. When they find something that is useful to them or similar to what they are looking for, they click. If that new page does not provide the information they were after, thankfully there’s a Back button and the search continues.

In order to have a site that performs well and up to expectation, there are a few principles that a designer should consider and keep in mind from the beginning.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind.

Keep It Simple - Don’t Make The Users Think

The web page should be obvious and self explanatory by getting rid of any questions or confusion that a site visitor could encounter. If the navigation is complicated and does not present the information well or not organized, visitors are done. Visitors will opt out and will go to another site to look for their information from another web site. A clear navigation can help users find their information and lead them deeper into your site.

Going along the lines of not making the users think, make sure you spell out what it is that you do or what your site provides. You want to minimize the amount of questions that is going through a site visitors mind when they are navigating your site. People scan and they scan left to right so by placing information like your products and services on the left and an image on the right will eliminate any confusion for the site visitor as to what you actually do and can provide them. Plus, that could be one of the first things that the site visitor would see coming to your site.

Choose your words carefully when asking people to take actions. Key rule, don’t make them think. Use “Sign-up” instead of “Let’s Get This Started” or “Start Now” or "Explore Your Options".

Capture Users’ Attention

Some aspects of the site design have to attract users’ attention. Adding a visual element or images usually does the trick, but a stylized text can attract as much attention as an image when done properly.  For example, a bold word usually attracts more attention than a word in plain text. Using visual clues to guide the site visitors through the site will raise fewer questions and draw their attention to that particular area. 

Writing For The Web

Know for sure that sales and promotional writing probably won’t be read. Along with long paragraphs without any images, breaks, bullets points, or significant words in bold or italic will be ignored and skipped also. Keep your content short and to the point.

Get your point across with no cute phrases and statements. Site visitors want creditable information and it may be useful to cite your references if you have any, or link to other articles that you've written or come across as valuable information. 

Usability Testing

Usability testing is probably one of the most important stage and most people tend to skip it or ignore it altogether. Typically, the earlier the better so it is caught before going into development.

Testing can provide valuable information and avoid any problems and issues. To meet all the expectation set by the site owner, you have to test the site, review the goals, and retest if necessary. One test is better than no test and making a quick fix at the beginning will be less expensive than making an adjustment later on when the project is close to completion.

On top of that, anyone who is involved in the project, like the developer and the designer, should probably stay away from the testing the site because they have worked on the project, know how it’s built, and know exactly how each components works and functions. The tester needs to be someone who was not involved in the project so you can get some fresh results and much needed feedback.

So in conclusion, keep these in mind, don't make the user think, capture the users' attention, write clear and informative content, and always test and test early.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below or suggest some key points you think are worth noting.