Usability is about making the digital assets we build easy and intuitive to use. To paraphrase Steve Krug, don’t make your users think: they should just do (Krug, 1997-2013).
One of the most important aspects of usability involves sticking to standard conventions, which are simply common rules or ways of displaying or structuring things on the web. Popular conventions include:
• Links that are blue and underlined
• Navigation menus at the top or left of the web page
• The logo in the top left hand corner, which is linked to take the user back to the home page
• Search boxes placed at the top of the page, using standard wording such as ‘search’, or a magnifying glass icon.
Ensure that all website elements (such as menus, logos, colours and layout) are distinct, easy to find and kept consistent throughout the site.
There are some key ‘don’ts’ when it comes to building a user-friendly and usable website:
• Never resize windows or launch the site in a pop-up.
• Don’t use entry or splash pages (a page that site visitors encounter first before reaching the home page).
• Never build a site entirely in Flash – most search engine spiders cannot effectively trawl Flash sites, and these will not work on many mobile devices.
• Don’t distract users with ‘Christmas trees’ (blinking images, flashing lights, automatic sound, scrolling text, unusual fonts, etc.).
It’s useful to consider usability guidelines to ensure that your website is on track. MIT Information Services & Technology provides a usability checklist online at http://ist.mit.edu/usability.
