Have you ever wondered why some sites do well on the internet and some don’t?
For example let’s look at the popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. According to ComScore Google’s share of searches in the month of April 2008 is around 61.60%, Yahoo – 20.40% and MSN – 9.10%. If all provide the same service, then why is Google’s share of searches more than Yahoo and MSN?
There are many online book stores on the internet but the first name that comes to our mind is Amazon.com. Why is it so? There are many video viewing sites but why is Youtube.com more popular?
There are many reasons for the popularity of any sites but the most important aspect according to me is the user experience provided by each of these sites; the usability of the site plays a very important role in getting it on the top.
Hence “Web Usability” is defined as
“The approach to make web sites easy to use for an end user, without requiring her (or him) to undergo any specialized training” – Wikipedia
I hope you’ve understood the importance of web usability, unless the end user is comfortable using your website, she (or he) won’t ever think of returning back. Studying the Web usability of a site has been greatly ignored by companies and web designers. The reason for this ignorance is lack of awareness and I hope to communicate it through this article.
There is a gap between the web content managers and the designers. A content manager thinks of coming up with the best content to describe their product / services whereas a web designer thinks of designing the best site in the world. No one is really thinking about the user experience; what is it that user wants to read, what kind of graphic or content placement will the user find comfortable, is the navigation of the site easy to understand, has the most important section highlighted in a way which can easily grab the attention of the user, etc.
There are many factors to be taken into consideration while working on the Web Usability of a site, some general ones and there are other factors that depend upon the content of the site. Here are few points that will help you make the right decisions regarding your Web Usability.
Don’t make the user think too much
Some of our sites are so complicated that the user has to spend time figuring out where to click next or what to do next. When they find the site too complicated they immediately leave the site and never come back again. And I don’t think you ever want this to happen with your site.
Remove unnecessary text/writings from the site
Visitor doesn’t read everything written on the site, they just scan through the site to find information that is relevant to their need, take your own example. How often do you read the whole content on the site. Removing unnecessary text from the site will help users take the needed action quickly.
Follow the Web conventions
Web Design conventions are general rules or you can say a web culture followed and practiced for many years, like the placement of Site ID (Logo) is always on the top-left corner of the site, the sections and subsections (menus) of a site is always on the top or the left hand side of the page, etc. These conventions are very common and the user is very much used to it. It is very important to keep these conventions in mind while designing a site. Breaking the rule means frustrating the end user.
Do a Usability Test
One of the best way to test the usability of your site is to observe an outsider browsing your site, this will give you a fair idea on how effective is your website with regards to content, navigation, graphics etc.
There are many things I would like to share about Web Usability, which I will do in my future articles. Do let me know if you have any questions. Your comments and suggestions are highly appreciated.
*All articles in this blog is written by Saju Joseph. Please do not use without permission
