Simply put, usability is making your website easy for your visitors to find the information they need when they need it.
A common misconception about usability amongst web companies is that usability is expensive.
Yes, there are multi-national companies that spend thousands of dollars on usability tests and research, but for an everyday company usability is achievable without the knowledge of usability experts or without expensive equipment for testing.Web designers have an even easier job to do, just by reading usability articles they can accumulate a fairly good knowledge about usability basics and how to implement them on a website.
A tagline is a statement or a motto that represents a company's, or in our case a website's, philosophy and mission.It should be the most obvious element on a website's front page and it should clearly describe the website in one phrase.It should be the most obvious element on a website's front page and it should clearly describe the website in one phrase.
Statistics show that a website has just 8 seconds to capture a visitor's attention for them to browse the site further.
Without a clear tagline a website would have a hard time keeping visitors long enough to browse the inner pages.
As with taglines, site search is a very important element on a website.
When users are looking for something they typically look for a text field where they can enter their search term.
According to Jacob Nielsen's web usability tips, make this search box 27 characters wide in order for the text to be clearly visible and easy to use.
Place the search text field on the top of your web page, because users tend to search a website according to the F pattern, meaning from the top left to the bottom right.
Include a search button and clearly specify the search text, don't use text such as Go or Submit, because these expressions tend to mislead your website's visitors.
Abusive use of design elements and graphics are always bad for a website, they just mislead the site's visitors.
Only design to improve the web page not just to decorate it. From a usability point of view, less is always more.
Site maps are a relatively new website feature that improves web page navigation and also search engine optimization (SEO).
Site maps in essence are a structural representation of a website's pages and architecture. It can be a document in any form, or a web page that lists the pages on a web site, typically organized in hierarchical fashion.
Recently, search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN have started offering a Sitemap protocol which is similar to a website's site map page, but the data is organized in XML format. There are Sitemap XML generators that create these documents for a specific URL.
By workflow we mean every operation that a user is doing on a website. For example filling out a form, registering on a website, browsing categories, archives, etc. Don't break these workflows, let the user cancel any operation. By not letting the user cancel an operation, we're forcing them to finish it even if they don't want to.
Not every operation on a website is obvious for users, guide them through the specific workflow by using descriptive tips. (e.g. when filling out a form). Javascript links usually break the workflow, so it's not recommended to use them on your website.
Another mistake is not changing the color of visited links, this results in breaking the navigational design. Let users know where they have been and where they are on a website.
Easy to read web pages plays an important role in maintaining visitor's loyalty, keeping them on your site and reading your content. Usability tests show that the majority of users don't read web pages, they scan them, looking for titles, bold, emphasized text or lists.
Eye tracking studies conducted by Jakob Nielsen show that users read content that resembles an F shape, meaning that the reading starts from the upper left of the web page, next it moves down a little starting from the left again.
Nielsen also states the implications of this reading pattern:
Users won't read a web page content word by word, they will extract important paragraphs, bold text, etc.
The first two paragraphs are essential on a web page. These must contain the most important information that your visitors are looking for.
Sub headings and lists stands out from the regular paragraphs. Use these elements to notify users on important information.
(0)


カナダのバンクーバーに渡り、早3年目に突入。移民申請を行いながら、制作現場から悶々と広告についての考えを巡らせる日々。この多人種国家で、様々な人と出会い、色々なことを学ぶ小生の気ままなメモ的なブログです。
info@ci-xx.org




コメントする