What Constitutes Good Web Usability?
Web usability is as important as a beautiful and attractive website design. If you have an up-to-date website filled with fresh and unique content good web usability will help you reach out to your readers effectively, as well as let users fully enjoy surfing your site.
Today, we want to remind you of some classical usability tips, which will hopefully help you turn your website into a real user-friendly paradise!
- Focus on Navigation.
There is no need to say how important good navigation is. It implies having well-organized categories and archives, as well as navigation buttons placed on areas that can be easily noticed. This will let users quickly find what they are looking for, which is likely to force them to stay at your website longer and return to it over and over again.
- Start Using Taglines.
Taglines are statements that represent the website’s goals and philosophy. Using taglines will let the users discover what the website is all about right away. This will immediately capture users’ attention and they will even be eager to browse the website. If there is no tagline at your website, your visitors are likely to be frustrated as to what the site is.
- Provide Site Search.
Once a user has come to your website, let him explore it by placing a site search. This is what will surely increase web usability. People surf the net to find the information they need. If you let them type some keywords in your search bar, your reader will find the search a lot easier. And, of course, don’t forget about site maps. These will show the whole architecture of your website allowing visitors to see the category they are interested in.
- Break Sections by Using Headings.
It is recommended to divide the entire website into smaller parts. This will not only make the content easier to understand, but also will be friendly for the eyes of the users. Note, the heading should be simple and concise enough.
- Be Careful with Flash.
Avoid using too much flash on your website. The main reason for this is that it can slow down your site. Users are usually always in a hurry. If your website is too slow they will simply switch to another one to find what they need.
- Make Use of Interesting Visuals.
Various photos, videos, charts, graphs are used to show something. You should also choose the right visuals to convey your message, enhance readability and add appeal to your website.
- Brevity is the Soul of Wit
If you post a message be sure to place concise contents. The truth is that people do not like to read long paragraphs. Most visitors just scan pages and look for interesting titles, headlines, texts in bold and lists. So, unless your website deals with some sort of scientific society, avoid using long sentences and paragraphs since they are too difficult to read from the screen.
- Make It Readable
Consider using negative space (like spaces between letters and the spaces from the text to images) if you want to improve the user experience.
That’s all for today. Have a comment? Share it with us below!
