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Useability and / or Design?

Here is a short quiz. Rank these reasons why there has been some improvement (42%) in the usability of most web sites over the last decade:

• Improvements in Technology (Browsers, Connection Speed, Computer Speed)
• Web "masters" choosing to show restraint in applying designs
• Users learning how to better "surf"/use the web?

The answers are at the bottom of this page.

Should your site look great? Yes! At the expense of your users ability to "get around" on your site? Since you have a maximum of 1 minute 49 seconds for new users viewing your opening page (home page) to decide whether they want to look any further at any other part of your site, these questions need to be considered (Prioritizing Web Useability, Jackob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger, New Riders Publishing, 2006).

Here is a list of web design practices, that may improve the looks, but cause your site to be ignored. Remember, there are actually hundreds of millions of sites available. Why should the user stay at your site, if he/she is having trouble using it? (Don't "beat yourself up." These authors also called IBM, Yahoo, and C|Net to task. Improvement comes as we look to grow in this discipline.)

Asking the user to use the latest (and greatest?) plug-ins (software programs that are "plugged into" Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc to allow your browser to show your page). General rule: Use no plug-in that is newer than a year old.

 

Any 3-D page.

 

Bloated amount of graphics. How much is too much? General rule: less is more.

 

Splash Screens - General Rule: Your home page is not a magazine cover.

 

Moving Graphics and / or Scrolling Text - Talking louder and saying the same thing doesn't often work. Animating your text doesn't either! General Rule: Don't

 

Custom buttons, scroll bars, etc. General Rule: If it doesn't look like one, don't.

 

No place on home page to access your name and contact information.

 

Puns and "Insider" Language, especially in titles and section headers.

 

Outdated Content - Archives OK, but out-of-date calendaring?

 

Pages inside the site looking nothing like the home page. General rule: Your theme should in some way transcend all pages.

 

Requiring users to "sign-up" before you show them the site.

 

Orphan Pages - Pages that have no link to any other page. This is a prime cause of web-claustrophobia. No escape, except ot exit your site!

 

Long pages like this one: General rule: Don't.

 

Answer to the question on top? (Intra-page links are discouraged because you violate expectation of the user: i.e. a link should lead to another page.) Here are where improvements have been made:

According to Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger (2006) the 42 percent improvement in web sites' useability during the last decade is credited to:

10 % - Improvements in Technologies

11 % - Users learning to better surf the web

21% - Web designer restraint

 

Find more studies at http://www.useit.com.

This leaves 58 % more room for improvement. Aren't you glad for Grace!

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