(a brief diversion)
But I am Not Selling Anything OnlineOK. Maybe you are not selling a product on your website.
Maybe your site does not accept any form of payment. But you are
selling something online. You are selling your image or your message.
Your website should have a goal in mind. If you are a non-profit
organization, your goal may be to recruit others to join your efforts,
or to distribute information about your organization. If you are
a service business, you may not be selling a product online, but
you are most certainly trying to convince this person to use your
service in the future. Improving your website usability can assist
you in accomplishing all of your website goals.
(end diversion)The International Standards Organization (ISO) defines usability
as the "effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which
a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in
a particular environment."
Simply put, usability is how quickly and easily users can accomplish
what they are trying to do on your website. For example, if your
website is selling yo-yos, how easily can a visitor find and purchase
a glow-in-the-dark yo-yo? Or let's say you have a service business,
how hard is it for a visitor to figure out if you provide the service
that they need, or to get their question answered?
Do a simple usability test. Try and think up the most common scenarios
of what people are looking for on your site. Then find a friend
(or stranger) who has never been to your site before. Give them
a list of things to accomplish and watch them as they try to accomplish
these tasks. Many times you will be surprised at what you see.
Improving your website usability is a continual process and is not
a simple task, but there are some basics that every website should
have to be usable.
- Consistent Navigation
Your website should have a consistent look and feel and a toolbar
that allows a user to easily navigate to any area of the site.
Why is this important? New visitors to your site will have to
spend some time determining how to use your site. The easier you
make it, the better. If your navigation is consistent throughout
your site, visitors will only have to learn this once. But if
you have different navigational tools on each page, visitors will
have to re-learn how to use your site on each new page they visit.
- Make Effective Use of Page Titles & Headings
Users should be able to take a quick glance at your web page and
have a good idea of what is on that page from your page title
and headings. Why? There is so much information on the web that
most people scan your pages and don't read every word unless they
determine from the headings that it is of interest to them.
- Make Your Text Legible
Use high-contrast colors for your page text. Black on white works
best. Keep backgrounds simple. Make sure your text is big enough
that people can read it. DON'T USE ALL CAPS. IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE SHAPES OF THE WORD AND TAKES LONGER TO READ.
After brainstorming common tasks users need to accomplish at your
site, watch someone who has never been to your site attempt to accomplish
these tasks. Make a list of things that confuse them or are difficult.
Talk to your web designer about how you can make your site easier
for your visitors to use.