The importance of web usability
Website users are becoming more and more of an impatient bunch these days. If they can not engage with your site quickly, they will leave within a matter of seconds. Usability is often overlooked but it is crucial to the overall success and survival of your website. It is about building trust and confidence through functionality and efficiency, and you need to start building this relationship from the moment the user enters your site. At the first sign of any doubt they will navigate elsewhere to a site with faster loading times, a simpler user interface, and clearer content.
“Usability” is a very broad term. We can break it down in order to gain a firm understanding.
1. Easy to learn
Your site needs to cater to all levels of technical ability. Even the most casual user should be able to learn how to navigate your site and obtain the information they need on their first visit. There must be consistency in your template layouts and menu navigation in order to prevent any potential frustration. The site needs to adopt as many standard web practices as possible to increase user familiarity right off the bat. Users will recognise links if they are styled with an underline or different colour to paragraphs. They will recognise web friendly typefaces and colour schemes and prefer simple and effective layouts. They are not going to be reading a manual, or visiting any help pages before having a crack at using your site, so keep it simple and follow standard practice.
2. Efficieny
You may have a site that is incredibly easy to use. It has a great layout, excellent navigation and engaging content. If it takes minutes to load because each page has huge background images then you could be fighting a losing battle. It might look very pretty but in reality loading times are paramount. In this age of increasing broadband speeds people expect sites to load almost instantaneously. It all boils down to the testing stage and whether you have optimised all of your site files (such as images) to have the smallest file size possible whilst retaining quality. It is also important to test your site for cross-browser compatibility. You may love Firefox but not everyone is as cool as you, make sure you have tested for all the major browsers or you could be alienating a strong percentage of potential users.
3. Easy to remember
If people want to come back to your site that is a good thing, but they will not want to relearn how to use it. Keeping content structured in sections is a good start. If you have hundreds of pages then try using expandable tree menus that show a clear path of where the user is going and where they have been. It is no use having your contact details page hidden on the fifth level of a drop down menu for example; people do not have time to go on a hunt. You cannot always reply on the users’ browser history or cache as these maybe cleared daily.
4. Recovery from errors
How often do users cause errors when using the site? How serious are the errors? How does the user recover? Bugs happen; the important thing is how we respond. Firstly, it is best to implement a way of informing the user that an error has occurred. Creating a custom error page if a link becomes broken or invalid is a good start as it reflects the site’s look and feel. It should provide information on what may have gone wrong and give the option to report the potential issue to an administrator. Bug prevention is better than the cure, make sure you test, test, and test your site again with real users before you make it live.
5. User experience
How much did the user enjoy their experience with your site? It is more important than you may think. Your users will return if they were very satisfied with their experience, perhaps even become a loyal visitor and recommend your site to others. If you are a business, it builds confidence and trust for your entire brand. How do you know if the user has a good experience? Well if your traffic is increasing, it is likely you are doing something right. It is essential to give the customers an opportunity to provide feedback and comments to improve your service.
Summary
Usability is essential for a successful website; it is not a single factor but a combination that many cannot ignore. Make sure you are designing and building a site with the user in mind, not yourself, whilst following the standard web practices that most users have come to expect. With careful strategic planning and thorough testing, it can be achieved.