Advice on copy writing, linking, font styling, and more. These simple steps can help improve website usability. Continue reading
Category Archives: Usability
Website Navigation
Web pages are more than just a collection of pages containing useful information and forms for interaction. They are a network of interrelated nodes that have been structured and organised so that users can find what they are looking for. Since the structure of websites varies so much, users are forced to relearn how to navigate around them. Users frequently have trouble deciding which page within a site to visit next. This decision usually involves an understanding of their current location within the site, and for poorly constructed sites this can be difficult to determine. One possible reason for this could be that developers design the navigation system around the assumption that users will first visit the home page when they enter the site. This is not always true, as users may be linked to any page on the site from a bookmark, url or search engine result. Continue reading
What Makes Good Usability?
This article is based on research I did for a dissertation on web usability and highlights some of the key areas that make a website easier to use. Continue reading
Why is Usability Important?
Usability plays a significant role in our lives. Everyday tasks such as driving a car, watching TV or filling out a form involves usability in some way. As technology becomes more complex and diverse, there is a greater need to ensure that users are able to operate it. Human computer interaction principles have existed for decades for the design of traditional software applications. However, there are several significant differences between traditional software interfaces and designing for the web. Web designers do not have the luxury of knowing where the user will be when surfing the Internet. They may be sitting at home on a desktop computer, travelling on a train or sitting in an crowded cafe. Find out why website usability is so important. Continue reading
What is Usability?
This article introduces website usability and goes over the five key usability components. Taken from my Masters dissertation on User-Centred Design and Web Usability. Continue reading