Easy Web Site Design

Usability is concerned with making Web sites that are easy and intuitive to use.

How many times have you been surfing a site and found yourself totally confused about what to do or where to go next? The answer is probably too many. Usability is an immensely important, but often neglected, consideration in Web site design. Remember on the Web your visitor is just one click away from leaving your site (and just one more away from your competitor's).

Too many Web pages look as though the designer has tried to use every piece of technology available just to show how clever s/he is. Unfortunately the results appear far from clever to the user. Most Web users are looking for content. The best design for them is the one they notice the least, because it's so intuitive they don't have to think about it.

This page offers a few key points for making your Web site usable.

For more information see Design and Usability for the Web

Map out your site concept and structure on paper before going near a computer.

Be consistent. If you have common elements such as logos, a menu bar etc, make sure they appear in the same place throughout the site. Where a menu item or link refers to the current page, include it in inactive (grayed out) form. This avoids the phenomena of disappearing buttons and notifies the user of his/her current location. Also be consistent in choice of fonts, colours etc to make your site appear as a unified whole.

Make things obvious to the user. If a graphic is clickable (ie a button), use a three-dimensional image. Use underlined text for links (unless it's otherwise very clear that your links are links), and avoid using underlined text for anything else.

back to top

Provide feedback. Let your users know what is happening. Use rollover effects to identify clickable objects (ie if an object is clickable, change it in some way when the user rolls his/her mouse over it). If there is likely to be a delay, eg in loading a large multimedia file or checking a customer's credit card details, let the user know - display a message saying please wait, or in the case of the multimedia file display a loader bar showing the percentage loaded.

If you must use icons (graphical symbols) for buttons, let the user know what they mean by using the image's alt attribute to provide a description. This will appear as a tool tip when the user rolls over the button.

Be aware of how long pages take to load. If your visitors are likely to have broadband connections to the Internet this is less of an issue, but if you expect some to be viewing via a modem avoid having them wait too long before anything happens. Be sure that multimedia content really adds value and isn't there just to show how clever you are. If you have large (ie slow loading) files, consider providing smaller, faster loading alternatives for modem users.

When designing bear in mind that Web sites are living, evolving entities, and the Web is a very fluid environment. Consider how you might modify or extend your original site concept while maintaining a consistent and unified face for your users.

As visitors can enter your site at any page (eg from a search engine link) include important navigational, links and other information on every page. These would include a link to the site home page, and to higher level pages if your site is structured hierarchically. A contact link, sitemap link and copyright information are also worth including on every page. Also consider including links to your security and privacy policies, especially if you are asking visitors to register and/or taking payments.

The best way to understand usability is by doing lots of Web surfing. Don't only visit your favourite sites, but do searches and visit many different sites on many different topics. As you surf you will surely come across sites that almost have you banging the screen in frustration. Before you click away, ask yourself WHY those sites are so difficult to use - and make sure you don't repeat the mistake in your own site(s). And when you find sites you like, also ask yourself why, and be sure to add your discoveries to your own design toolbox.

back to top

The designer of a site is probably the worst person to assess that site's usability. The designer knows intimately the structure of his/her site and how to navigate it. S/he has also (hopefully) made certain choices because they made sense to him/her. But does the site make sense to others? Don't rely on visitors to give you feedback on the usability of your site, it's much easier for them to click away never to return. If possible, get someone else to view and comment on your site before putting it live. Preferably someone who matches the profile of a typical potential visitor, and who hasn't been involved in your site's evolution.

See also

Design and Usability for the Web, a paper by the author of Easy Web Site Design

Accessibility, since making a site accessible is a significant step toward making it usable.

useit.com Web site of Jakob Nielsen, a leading expert on Web Usability.

jnd.org Web site of Don Norman, Professor of Computer Science, Psychology and Cognitive Science at Northwestern University, former Vice President at Apple Computer and leading advocate of human-centered design.

Nielsen Norman Group Usability consulting group founded by Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman.

Usable Web 100s of links about Web usability

Usability.gov US government site providing current and accurate information on how to make Web sites and other user interfaces more usable, accessible, and useful.

Art and the Zen of web sites

USENET newsgroup: comp.human-factors

back to top