Many people often get caught up in the excitement of a new website, focusing too much on how it looks and very little on what it does. If you or your company are considering a new website it is worth considering the following factors, collated from the Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement and web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, a few handy hints and pointers on what to consider when considering the requirements for your sites web design.
- Know your customer
Knowing who your customer is and what they will be using your website for is often the hardest but most valuable asset when considering your new website. Consider why they are on your website and what they will be seeking out; they could be researching your service, checking prices, looking for your high street location, opening times- anything!
- Easy access to complete information
Users want to be able to find the information they are looking for quickly and without any hassle. Remember that information is power, give the potential customer plenty of information (refer back to the point above), you have the high street to compete with, where customers can physically touch the product or question the shop assistants.
- Good visual design
Although we started off this article saying the contrary, good designs is still important, but avoid over the top flash and multimedia, instead opt for a strong and simple design that users can still navigate around. Do not go overboard with bright colours, using contrasting and garish colours can make it difficult for users to read text, further to this avoid large images they will only increase the amount of time it takes for the website to load.
- Keep it simple
Visitors to your site want to be able to navigate easily through all the various pages and categories without getting lost. A good homepage with a static navigational menu will ensure users don’t get lost in the murky depths of your website. Remember that users do not know your website as well as you do therefore you need to make navigation tools fairly obvious.
- User terminology
Follow usability expert Jakob Nielsen recommendation by using laymen terms; do not bamboozle users with jargon. Not only is this good from a usability point of view but it can also be beneficial when users are searching for the website.
Sources
Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/
Factors that improve online experiences IDEA http://www.idea.org/find-information.html
Tags: web design, web development, web usability
