Designing sites with users in mind

A website that has been well thought out and designed should make the user experience uncomplicated, intuitive and fast. There are many aspects that contribute to good usability and web practice. Here are a few suggestions as to what makes for a usable site.

Answering questions

There are three questions that users want answers to very quickly when on a web page: where are they, what can they do and where can they go.

Users initially want to know if they have landed on the right page for their needs. The next question is whether they can achieve their goals on that page. If they aren't on the correct page, then they assess how to get to their desired destination.

Good web design will always answer these questions quickly.

Clearly marked links

Hyperlinks are links that direct the user to another web page, either within the same site or on a completely different one.

Hyperlinks should be made clear and obvious. They should be treated as signposts to let users know where they can go. The standard convention is to have links underlined in a dark blue colour, but nowadays, designers use different colours depending on the colour scheme of the site. It's not uncommon to see hyperlinks with 'dotted' or 'dashed' underlines.

No matter what convention is used, keeping the look of the hyperlinks consistent is the key to good usability.

A website that has been well thought out and designed should make the user experience uncomplicated, intuitive and fast. There are many aspects that contribute to good usability and web practice. Here are a few suggestions as to what makes for a usable site.

Answering questions

There are three questions that users want answers to very quickly when on a web page: where are they, what can they do and where can they go.

Good web design will always answer these questions quickly.

Clearly marked links

Hyperlinks are links that direct the user to another web page, either within the same site or on a completely different one.

No matter what convention is used, keeping the look of the hyperlinks consistent is the key to good usability.

Leaving a trail

'Breadcrumbs' are a classic way of letting users know precisely their whereabouts on a site. Usually located just below the main navigation bar, a breadcrumbs trail lists what section the user is in through a hierarchical pathway starting with the home page and finishing with the current page. Each of the hierarchical titles is usually also a hyperlink, which allows the user to move back a few steps should they be going down the wrong route and want to change direction.

Naming images

One overlooked aspect of usability is applying 'alt tags' to images. These are names given to images that appear on the screen when no image is not available or when it can't be seen by the user. This issue crosses over into web accessibility, but it's still worth mentioning as some sites produce images that do not appear for various reasons.

Many people mix up alt tags and title tags. Title tags are descriptions of images, which appear when the user places the mouse over an image. The confusion between the two tags is caused mainly by Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which gives alt tags the same behaviour as title tags.

Accessibility is about letting as many people as possible use a site. This includes people with disabilities such as blindness and hard of hearing, as well as users who view sites through devices other than a PC.

Leaving a trail

Naming images

One overlooked aspect of usability is applying 'alt tags' to images. These are names given to images that appear on the screen when no image is not available or when it can't be seen by the user. This issue crosses over into web accessibility, but it's still worth mentioning as some sites produce images that do not appear for various reasons.