Usability is a much ignored and misunderstood word, yet it is critical when designing a web site.
It is one of the major factors that must be considered before putting pixel to screen. It is the consideration of how the web site will work. In essence, the structure, navigation and the function of the site.
If it doesn't work because of a failing in any of these areas, nobody is going to use it!
There is some well-quoted research that Web Surfers are an impatient lot. They will wait around 20 seconds for a web page to load. If your hosting your site on 'free' web space that came with your internet connection, chances are that your sharing a web server with 100's maybe 1000's of other users. This means a slower response to page requests and slower page loading. The web site doesn't load quickly enough and the surfer moves on to another site. Who would have thought the web space would cause a usability issue?
Let's say we have a good hosting provider and our page loads quickly. Is it obvious from the moment the page loads, how to navigate around the site?
Did you know that there are recognised areas of the screen where web site visitors expect to see particular functionality, such as navigation bars, external links, banner ads, company logos and search boxes, etc?
These expectations have evolved due to well known web sites such as Amazon.com and others implementing a best practice layout. This successful layout has been adopted by so many other sites that it is almost a standard.
This 'standardisation' means that site visitors will immediately be able to navigate similar sites through familiarity.
Does your web site implement any parts of this 'standard' layout?
Any single piece of information on your web site should be no more than 3 layers in to the web site.
When we say layers, we ultimately mean three mouse clicks i.e. Home Navigation, Child Navigation then link to Information required.
To achieve this, site structure must be carefully considered with information logically grouped.
Just because you have a javascript menu system that gives unlimited submenus, doesn't mean you have to use them.
Once you got on top of all that, then you're about ready to move on to the decisions involved in building a site!
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