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Web Usability: It's all about the user
Getting users to visit your website can be daunting, so once you have
successfully accomplished that feat you want them to stay for a while. Let's face it: Web users are an
incredibly impatient lot. When they enter your website, they should be able to determine two things right
off the bat: your site's purpose and if your site has the information they want. Your site shouldn't take
users on an Easter egg hunt: don't make them search every nook and cranny to find what they're looking for.
Because if they can't find what they want it in a click or two, chances are they'll go elsewhere.
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A user-friendly website is also one that has smooth-flowing navigation
and a well-planned layout, no matter how much content is included. It takes usability pros like ours who
have experience with site architecture and visual communications to make your site less like a maze and
more like a straight path from A to B.
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Once you've identified who your users are and why they're coming
to your site, it's important to get answers to these questions:
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- Learn-ability: How easy is it for users to get to basic info the first time they encounter your site?
- Efficiency: Once users become familiar with your site, how quickly can they get around?
- Memorability: When users return to your site, how easily can they get back in the groove?
- Few Errors: How many errors do users make and how easily can they recover from the errors?
- Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design and get around?
Minimum usability factors
Although we take dozens of website usability factors into consideration when developing a site, here's a list of some usability "must haves":
- A website that's easy to navigate: clean, easily identifiable navigation that is consistently located.
- Consistent logo and headers throughout site.
- A clear USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, on the homepage, as well as some copy that explains what you do.
- Fast loading pages.
- Scannable content: Web users don't usually read paragraphs, they scan bullets and headlines.
- Readable content: Is the font size large enough? Is there enough contrast between your content and the background to make it readable?
Are YOUR site's users lost? We can help. Call 888.485.4932 or contact us about our web usability solutions by using the form on this page.
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