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True Web Usability - Principles Over Laws
By Jon Jackson
What is Usability? What makes a Web site usable? How can
you prove that a Web site is usable? And how does
usability affect me? These are all valid questions and
I'll attempt to answer them here.
If a site is usable, it fits its purpose. This typically
means that it's convenient to use. In some cases though,
a Web site may be difficult to use. For example, it
might not be appropriate for a site designed purely for
artistic expression to be usable in all aspects. A site
might also have sections which are purposely less usable
than others for security reasons. It's good to be aware
of exceptions such as these but they're not the focus of
this article.
Now that the concept of usability is understood, let's
be clear about one point: If a Web site is usable from
your perspective, it doesn't mean that it's usable by
others. It is common for designers of Web sites or
interfaces to think that if they themselves find it easy
to understand then so will everyone else. Herein lays
the danger. Assuming good usability leads to complacency
in the design process.
The solution to this problem is to employ a set of
testing methods. Rest assured that you don't need to be
an expert in order to undertake usability testing. You
don't require a large budget or fancy equipment. Since
this subject is beyond the scope of this article, I
recommend reading Steve Krug's book on Web Usability.
More information on his book is found at the end of this
article.
Why Make a Web Site Usable?
Whether your site sells goods or is content based,
usability is a key issue. Embrace it, and your visitors
will feel comfortable and secure. Ignore it, and they
will be faced with an unappealing obstacle course!
When it comes to browsing Web sites, users aren't
renowned for sticking around when the going gets tough.
After all, if they don’t seem to be getting anywhere, a
couple of clicks on the back button will return them to
the 51,280 results that Google just provided! There are
plenty of alternative places they can go if your site
doesn’t cut it.
In short, users who can't use your site will usually
give up. Each time this happens, you lose a potential
customer. So what can be done?
Use Conventions
This is one aspect where you shouldn't be afraid of
going along with the crowd. Some typical Web conventions
are outlined below. Most of these are based on
underlying principles of good usability.
Take, for example, showing your logo or site name at the
top of each page. This allows users to recognize what
site they are actually on. This is a particularly
important point considering that a lot of traffic can be
gained through search engines that return pages deep
within a site instead of the home page. A related
convention is the use of the site logo to link back to
the home page. This isn't essential but it can make your
users feel more comfortable as it's a widely used
technique.
Make Things Obvious
Another principle is to make things obvious. Don't
confuse your users. Applications of this principle can
be found in various aspects of site design.
Make clickable objects and links clearly identifiable.
The text for links should also be descriptive. It helps
the user when they have a rough idea as to what they
will be confronted with before they click on an item.
This means restricting the use of "Click Here" links.
If you have search boxes on your site, make it obvious
as to what they are for and don't complicate search
functions. An advanced search feature may be appropriate
but for a basic search box embedded within a page, it
would be wise to avoid any unnecessary radio buttons or
dropdown lists which have the tendency of misleading or
even confusing users. Amazon provides a fine example in
this respect. Whether you type in an author's name, a
book's title, or an ISBN, the search function does its
job and returns the appropriate results. There's no need
for the user to specify what field they are searching
within (i.e. author, title, or ISBN). The modern system
is more intuitive and easier to use.
Orientate Your Users
Users need to know where they are and where they've
been. To tackle this area of Web site usability, a
combination of techniques can be used.
First of all, links that change color when visited are
invaluable. This can be combined with the Web convention
of non-visited hyperlinks typically being blue and
visited hyperlinks being purple. If you can stick to
this, your users will know exactly where they stand.
This may not always be appropriate though, and the
aforementioned convention may be traded off against the
style of the Web site, which can be an important factor
itself.
Secondly, in a similar way that a map in a public park
may have a "You Are Here" pointer, Web sites can offer
various clues as to where the user currently is. One
method that is commonly used is that of "bread crumbs".
They appear in the format of "Home > Section >
Sub-Section > Current Page" where each item in the
string of "bread crumbs" (except the last one) is linked
to its corresponding page.
Content Matters
Don't be quick to think that building a usable Web site
has nothing to do with the content that appears on it.
If the content is poorly written or structured, your
users will experience difficulties.
All content should be readable. It's a good practice to
break up a section of text into paragraphs and sections
using informative subheadings, since many users simply
scan the content of a page. Making content easy to scan
lends towards good usability. Long articles or
publications can be broken down into multiple pages.
Bringing It All Together
In this article, we've barely scratched the surface of
usable design techniques. Some recommended reading is
provided below. It's worthwhile investing the time and
effort to read through a selection of the books
available. Learning from other people's experience can
save you a lot of time and effort in the long-run.
When you're browsing Web sites in the future, keep an
eye out for little demonstrations of good and poor
usability from your own perspective. This will help you
with issues that may arise in your own projects.
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