Webite Usability

Everyone is different, and some people are going to find it easier than others to learn certain things. Everyone has a favourite subject at school, and I bet yours wasn’t always the same as your friends, or that guy that used to sit behind you in class. Using websites are also like that. Some people will learn how to use them really easily, some people will find them more difficult to understand.

So how do you build a ‘website for dummies’? I recommend three key things that you should keep in mind:

1) Effectiveness – How easy is it to learn and complete a task?

2) Efficiency – how fast can the task in hand be completed?

3) Satisfaction – How does the user feels about your site?

Usability is important because as a species, we are generally impatient things! If we don’t understand something right away, we tend to throw it down and never come back to it again if we have a choice! In school, we generally didn’t have a choice. It was either: pick it back up again and try to learn it; or fail. When it comes to your internet site, there is no ‘life-changing’ exam at the end of it to motivate people to spend time on your site and get to understand it. Therefore, if they don’t understand, they will just go off and find another site that they do understand and find easy to use, never returning to yours again.

Here are some tips to help increase the usability of your website, so that even a dummy can understand and use it!

1) Simplicity is key! At the end of the day, your site is there to sell things. Therefore it doesn’t need fancy whistles and bells that are going to confuse your customer and slow down their computer. All you really need is a logo, a navigation system and some content.

2) Logic. Your pages need to be in a logical order. If they are not, don’t expect your customer to be able to find what they want. Again, keep it simple. Instead of using tables and layers etc, just use headings, lists and paragraphs. If you can get away without pictures and graphics as well, so much the better, but this may be more difficult if you are planning on selling items on your site.

3) No Jargon. As mentioned above, humans are impatient creatures. We don’t have time mostly to read things fully, so we tend to skim read. I bet even some of you are skimming through this article right now! Therefore, keep your language simple, and only use one word where one is needed. Why describe a zebra as ‘a four legged, black and white striped animal you mostly find at the zoo’, when most people will know immediately what you mean if you just write the word ‘zebra’?

4) Every page is important. Every page on your site should be clear as to what your site is about, it’s purpose. Be clever with your page titles, logos, headers etc so they remember at all times.

5) No barriers. Don’t make your site so that customers need a password and username to log in. The chances are, they will see that and never come back. Also, have as few pages as possible between the landing page and completing the transaction. (comes down to patience yet again!)

6) Browser compatibility. It sounds simple, but make sure your website works with all major browsers like Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer. Also, check it works on your phone and PDA. In order to but things, people need to be able to get onto your site!

7) Testing makes perfect. You may think your site is fine, that doesn’t mean others think the same thing! Test it out, submit it for review or have your site assessed in order to get other peoples opinions.

So, when it comes to the usability of your site, remember to think of your customer when you are compiling your website, and keep thinking about the fact that they might not be as computer-friendly and patient as you are, so make things easy and simple for them to keep them happy! After all, the customer is always right!