Website Usability
A good website design is of course important, but no matter how good it looks you may lose visitors and customers if the site is difficult to use. Web users are easily frustrated and they know that the next site is just a click away. Visitors must be able to understand what your site is about within a matter of seconds.
Website usability is concerned with the human interaction aspect of the website - essentially, how easy and intuitive it is to understand and navigate. The subject is vast and many books have been written about it, but to summarise some key points:
- Web pages should show a consistent design across the site.
- Navigation controls should be clear and obvious (and in a consistent place).
- Link text should be clear, obvious and descriptive.
- Multimedia and Flash™ should be used sparingly and with purpose (not just eye-candy).
- Content must be written specifically for the web - clear and concise.
- Web forms design should make it obvious what information is required and in what format.
- The website should be tested on all common browsers in use.
- Contact information should be provided (and easy to reach on every page).
- Images should be large and/or scalable.
PSLWeb places a strong emphasis on designing usable websites within the requirements of the client.
