Usability 

A lot of websites are not user-friendly. They are awkward and hard to use. They are not intuitive, they require a lot of exploration. This can be because of a focus on too much “coolness” and features, or simply because of bad design. Such sites frustrate and chase away users. This is the study of usability.

The human eye moves in a certain way. Different cultures also respond differently to different things. You have to make sure that screen elements – navigation and content being the most important - are on screen in a manner that fits these tendencies.

The blind, color-blind, and people with other disabilities have special software that allow them to use the internet as well? A good website has to take them into consideration or lose their patronage.

These are done through many features such as good image ALT tags, changeable font sizes, good header tags, keyboard equivalents for mouse commands, and proper formatting. This is the study of accessibility.

Adverse reactions can be caused by certain features. Sudden bright flashes, for example, can cause epileptic seizures.

For further reading, one of the acknowledged masters of the usability field is Mr. Jakob Neilsen, who runs a website appropriately named useit.com (http://www.useit.com/). His views can get a bit on the extreme side, but there is not a good web site that does not incorporate his guidelines to a certain degree.

The other side of the human experience concerns the less technical aspects of human nature.

Anyone with a bit of experience on the web will have been bombarded with advertisements and banners. A lot of them will automatically skip anything that looks like an advertisement, so a good site design will avoid anything that flashes or scrolls, as these are typical gimmicks used to draw attention.

The web is a very impersonal medium of communication. Inject a little humanity into your web presence to bring you and your client a little closer, and build trust and rapport. There are many ways to achieve this, but a picture and biography of yourself and your key members are one of the most helpful and hassle-free ways.

Forums, email, support tickets in PHP, live chat modules, as well as options for more traditional ways of interaction like phone calls will be helpful.

back to top