Think of the five websites you use the most. What are their distinctive features? Which buttons do you have to click, and which steps do you have to follow? You probably don’t really know because you’re browsing on autopilot. You don’t even think about where the search bar is or how to checkout.Believe it or not, not having to think too much about what you need to do is a great sign website. Specifically, this is a great user interface.
Your user interface (UI) contains elements that allow people to interact with your site, including pages, screens, buttons, icons, and images. UI is more than just making your website look good.
A good UI helps your website function properly and provides a better user experience for your customers. If your customers can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily (without even thinking about it), they’re likely to come back again and again. If customers are rushing to use the site, they will click away.In fact, a well-planned UI can increase conversions Up to 200%.
Let’s take a look at UI best practices and some common UI/UX mistakes you might make on your website.
What is the golden rule of UI design?
You might be wondering what makes a great UI, but the answer isn’t always straightforward. An effective user interface can vary from site to site, mainly because all users are different. However, there are some UI principles or golden rules of UI design that apply to most websites.
consistency
UI is all about helping users get from point A to point B; you want your users to quickly and easily achieve what they want to achieve. Whether they’re looking for a specific item on your ecommerce store, searching for an article on your blog, or wanting to sign up with a link, your users need to be able to intuitively find what they’re looking for.
One of the best ways to achieve this is to be consistent across your pages. This doesn’t just mean using the same consistent fonts, tones, and similar layouts across pages (though that’s a big part of that). The sequence of actions the user follows should also be consistent between similar actions, and should be consistent with common web page layouts, such as clicking a logo to return to the home page.
It would be helpful if you used the same terminology in all your tips, menus, and helpdesk articles.
At last, Watch out for any U/UX errors. You will want to avoid them at all costs.
Simple and intuitive navigation
You may have heard this word intuitive A lot of times people talk about web design, not to mention mentioned a few times in this article. The best interfaces are the simplest and most intuitive to use. Think Apple iPad or iPhone. If you give one to a toddler, they’ll figure out how to use it. That’s because the device is designed to be completely intuitive – anyone should be able to use it naturally without guidance or training.
Avoid unnecessary elements and use clear labels and information to guide users through the site. Buttons and clickable links should be 100% clear and usable and should not blend into the background.Also, you should make sure Color combinations are attractive and inspiring.
structure
When working with layouts, keep in mind the spatial relationships between items on the page and structure the page so that the most important information appears at the top. You’ve probably heard of advertisers or front-end developers putting information “above the fold.” This refers to the upper area of the screen that users will see immediately after opening your website.
Use font and placement to draw attention to the most critical information, especially the call to action. Remember that most web users only scan web pages rather than peruse copies. Break up your text with paragraphs and subheadings and keep it concise.
Availability
What do your users need? Most users need information. They want to find a product or complete an action. However, not everyone is equally good at navigating a website or will navigate the same way. Age, language, location, and technical prowess vary from person to person, so you should make it as easy to use as possible.
Add tips, prominent links to your help desk, chatbots, shortcuts, and a fast pace to enrich your user experience and guide their navigation on your site. You should also choose a font (font, size and spacing) for ease of reading and scanning.
reduce cognitive load
We’ve talked about the automated user experience that comes with a great UI, but this feeling of self-driving is based on science. Any mental energy you expend while thinking is called cognitive load. When you need to concentrate and reason through the website, your experience becomes less pleasant. Good UI designers want to keep cognitive load low because human attention is limited. Have you ever fallen down the internet rabbit hole and struggled to remember what you were doing for the last thirty minutes?
Most people only keep about five items in our short-term memory at a time, which is why websites are designed to make us recognize rather than recall what we need to do. This involves adding familiar prompts to guide us. The call-to-action button is usually prominent and easy to click; the back button helps us go back to the previous page, and the menu is located in the upper-right corner of the page. If the prompts are familiar, we use them without thinking.
More importantly, the white space around the text Increase user attention by 20%, which is something you might want to keep in mind when trying to design the perfect website.
Close and feedback design
If your ecommerce store or website requires users to complete a specific action (such as signing up), make sure the process has a beginning, middle, and end. This helps your users feel safe because they have done everything they need to do. Let’s take an online store as an example.
Shoppers find what they’re looking for, add it to their cart, check out, and view a confirmation page that the transaction has been successful and is in progress.
Feedback is associated with action. Every action should have a reaction. For example, if you press a button on a website, the color should change to notify the user that the interaction was successful. This confirms that the operation expected by the user has been completed.
reversible action
Your users should be able to undo whatever they’ve done on the site without deleting their progress. Doing the reverse can ease anxiety and frustration and allow users to navigate the site. If they click on a page they don’t like, they should be able to jump back to the previous page. If they add too many products to their cart, they should be able to remove it.
Also, make sure design an interface This way users don’t make serious mistakes, like losing all information or the entire shopping cart if they accidentally click away. There should also always be room for recovery.
This is especially important if the user has to edit text or graphics. Your undo feature lets you step back into any changes they made and want to delete. You can also use undo features such as emergency exits. If you accidentally delete an email, Gmail’s notification message (with an undo option) allows you to undo your action.
control
It’s a good idea to give your users a sense of control over the interface. This means that interfaces should respond to their actions the way they expect them to. Unfamiliar behaviors, lengthy and unnecessary data entry sequences, hidden information, and other inconveniences negatively impact the user experience. If you run an e-commerce site, allow your visitors to checkout with a guest account instead of forcing an early login. Once they make a purchase decision, ask for their personal information at the end of the process.
accessibility
When designing an interface, you should use language and concepts that users are familiar with. Giving an action or item a clever new name and hoping your users will embrace your term may mean they can’t find what they’re looking for.
Information should be presented logically and using words that everyone is familiar with. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to use phrases in 4th grade. Remember that not everyone will be familiar with your local vernacular or technical terms, so keep your wording accessible and easy to read.
show system operation
Let’s say your website needs processing (like payment or installation). In this case, it is critical to keep your users informed about system operation in a highly visible and easily grasped state. This should appear on the screen within a few seconds. If you can add a time estimate to the download (for example, 15 minutes remaining), do so. If you don’t, your users may unnecessarily abandon or restart the process, leading to frustration (and mistakes) that are hard to reverse.
The three-strike rule
Try to reduce the number of actions users need to take to achieve their goals.consider The three-strike rule. Users should find the information or item they are looking for in no more than three mouse clicks. Not that users will abandon the site after the fourth click, but the principle is sound. Makes finding information quick and easy.
judgment
Now that you know more about UI, you can start applying these techniques to your own website. Remember that your user interface will drive all transactions and actions on your website, and it is critical to do this right from the start. When designing or choosing your UI, keep your customers front and center of the process. You should ask yourself, what do they want to know or achieve on each page? Their needs should guide the aesthetics in every possible way for the site to be successful.
If you still feel like you need a little help, feel free to check out some easy to follow but very effective content guide.
