The importance of usability

For many businesses, their website is the shop window by which many people will judge their integrity. Not only must the look of the site represent the company’s values but it must also be user friendly to enhance the visitor's experience.

User centred design

"User-centred design" is a design process that focuses on the requirements and restrictions of the end user. This is inherently connected to designing for "accessibility". This term means producing sites that work not just for PCs, but also mobile phones, blueberries, handheld devices for disabled people and other handhelds.

Web usability

It is fair to say that the design of a site is important, but without doubt the usability is far more important. Sadly, many designers don't pay enough attention to this aspect of design and what is produced is a site that looks fantastic but falls down on end user experience. Designers are sometimes restricted by the client’s end goals and a limited budget.

Before looking for a designer to make your site it pays to do some research into usability yourself. A great way of doing this is by surfing the net for sites that are similar in functionality and size – competitors’ sites are a good starting place. Also think about looking at the sites of global brands because they will have spent a substantial amount of time and money on developing their sites. Beware though, just because a company has spent a great deal of money on a site doesn't necessarily mean that they have got it right.

Explore sites and note down all the positives and negatives about your experiences. For example, if you are on an e-commerce site try to purchase a product (you don't have to go through the whole process and buy the product!) and ask your self how easy or hard the buying process is. Also try viewing the same sites on a handheld device to see how different the experience is compared to being on a PC.

Website stucture

Think about the structure of the pages themselves. A well-constructed page will have clearly defined areas for the navigation and content. It is vital that the user knows where they are in relation to the whole site. If your site consists of hundreds of pages, it can be very easy for a user to get lost. A good site is intuitive and gives the user an indication as to where they are, either through the navigation or breadcrumb paths. Content on a site should be well presented. Usually a heading precedes the main body of content. Sub headings can also be used to break up long sections of text to make it more digestible to the user. The content itself is vitally important not just for usability but also search engines. One sure-fire way of putting people off your site is to produce reams and reams of text for them to read. Content must be unique, informative and not too long.

A successful website for businesses isn't just about producing something that looks pretty, but more importantly it’s about creating something that is useful and easy to use.