Usability - The Little Known Key to Web Site Success
Usability Engineering is the practice of designing a web site that conforms to user expectations and presents all elements in an intuitive manner.
Most web users expect that when they click a "Submit" button on a standard web page, the button will click and the web server will process their data. If the user expects this, this is what should happen. The button shouldn't disappear when the user clicks it, nor should their data simply change colors rather than be processed. If the site doesn't perform as your visitors expect it to, they'll become frustrated and leave your web site for another, possibly your competitor's.
A few elements of good usability include:
- If an item doesn’t serve a purpose, don’t include it
- Personalize your site to exactly meet your users browsing & usage habits
- Know your users bandwidth limitations and design accordingly
- Avoid behaviors that your users don’t expect; don’t change the look and feel of your web site on different pages. Be consistent in look, feel, tone and message.
- If your site appeals to a general audience, avoid new "fad technologies" that require special tools or software. Most users won’t have these.
When we build your web site, we'll adhere to accepted usability standards. Throughout all stages of development, we'll perform usability tests to ensure that our design is indeed usable. Your web site visitors will feel comfortable using your web site and will reward you generously for thinking of them when building it.
Is your current web site usable? Would you like to be sure? Let us answer these questions for you and show you how you can provide users with the experience they expect.
