hat is web usability & the homepage
why is it important?
* The term ‘About us' is used
Web usability is about making for organisation information
your website in such a way that
your site users can find what * Navigation is in the same place
they're looking for quickly and on each page and adjacent to the
efficiently. A usable website can content
reap huge benefits on to your
website and your business. * Anything flashing or placed
above the top logo is often an
* Every "£1 invested in improving advertisement
your website's usability returns
"£10 to "£100 (source: IBM) * The term ‘Shopping cart' is
used for items you might wish to
* A web usability redesign can purchase
increase the sales/conversion
rate by 100% (source: Jakob There are numerous other
Nielson) conventions like these that
enhance your website's usability
Your website has to be easy to - can you think of some more?
navigate
Don't underestimate the
Users have gradually become importance of these conventions -
accustomed to particular layouts as the Internet matures we're
and phrases on the Internet, for getting more and more used to
example: things being a certain way. Break
these conventions and you may be
* Organisation logo is in the left with nothing but a website
top-left corner and links back to with poor usability and a handful
of dissatisfied site visitors. d
Pages must download quickly Information should be easy to
retrieve
Usability studies have shown that
8.6 seconds is the maximum time We read web pages in a different
web users will wait for a page to manner to the way we read printed
download (source: Andrew B. King matter. We generally don't read
- Speed Up Your Site). As of pages word-for-word - instead we
March 2004 just 25% of UK web scan. When we scan web pages
users had broadband (source: UK certain items stand out:
National Statistics) so it's
essential for optimal usability * Headings
that your website downloads
quickly. * Link text
To speed up the download time of * Bold text
your website we recommend you do
three things: * Bulleted lists
* Use CSS and not tables to lay Did you notice that images were
out your web page left out of that list? Contrary
to the way in which we read
* Use CSS and not images to printed matter, we see text
create fancy navigation items before we see images on the
Internet. For optimal website
* Read this article about how to usability don't place important
speed up the download time of information in images as it might
your web pages at go unnoticed.
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/spee
Restrictions must not be placed above)
on users
* Bookmarking not possible
Don't prevent your users from
navigating through the Internet * Impossible to e-mail the link
in the way that they want to. For to someone else
example:
* Problems with printing
1. Every time a link is opened in
a new window the back button is * Users feel trapped if external
disabled. Approximately 60% of links open in the same window
Web users employ the back button
as their primary means of * Search engine optimisation
navigation (source: Usability issues
Interface). If you do this then
you're preventing 60% of your There are lots of other ways that
users from using their primary websites can place restrictions
navigation - now that can't be on its users, ultimately damaging
good for usability. their usability - can you think
of any more? Just think back to
2. Don't use frames to lay out the last time a website really
your website. Frames can cause a infuriated you - what annoying
number of usability problems, thing did it do to make you feel
namely: that way?
* Disabling the back button (see
About the Author:
This article was written by Trenton Moss. He's crazy about web usability and accessibility - so crazy that he went and started his own web usability and accessibility consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk ) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone.
Read more articles by:
Trenton Moss
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
