Ease of use is a common expectation for a well-designed website.
In the past few years, we have become accustomed to certain standards of web design.
In order to make a lasting impression on your visitors, you need to create an experience that goes beyond simple, usable websites.
This does not mean that availability becomes less important.
It just plays a different role in web design and now forms the basis of a good user experience.
Availability means User-centered design.
The design and development process are centered on potential users to ensure that their goals, mental models and requirements are met. And build efficient and easy-to-use products.
Here are 5 key principles for good website usability. Make sure to consider these in your next project.
1. Usability and Accessibility
Let’s start with a basic but core aspect of usability: site usability and accessibility. If people try to visit your website but it doesn’t work—for whatever reason—your website becomes worthless.
Not only will users get frustrated, but every time your website becomes unavailable, you will also lose new customers and revenue.
Here are some basics of usability and accessibility,
- Server uptime – It’s important to ensure that your visitors don’t make mistakes when they try to load your website. Invest in good hosting. Invest in good hosting. We never cut corners and get a high-quality web host that you can rely on.
- Broken link – Double check that there are no dead links on your website. SEO tools such as Ahfs and Screaming frog Your website will be crawled for you and all broken links will be found.
- Mobile response – Make sure your site can handle different screen sizes and slow connections. Google has also turned to “mobile-first” indexing, which means they index the mobile version of the site. Therefore, a great mobile website will help you get better search results.
Amazon
Amazon It is a perfect example of an accessible website for many reasons.
First, the desktop version of the website is optimized for tablets and desktop screens. The layout is flexible and can be automatically adjusted as the screen size shrinks. For mobile devices, there is a clear version of the website, the interface is clean, not so confusing, and the content is clearly structured. This streamlined mobile version works like a charm-even if the mobile Internet connection is slow.
Second, Amazon almost No downtime. Obviously, this is what you expect from a company of this size. Nevertheless, the history of continuous availability makes Amazon a reliable and trustworthy service platform.
Last but not least, Amazon actively pays attention to its accessibility.In their website, They said: “We are always looking for ways to improve the usability of our website for our customers (including people with disabilities).” For screen readers, they especially recommend that the content of their mobile website is more clearly presented.
2. Clarity
You can say that the core of usability is clarity.
If you distract or confuse your visitors, they will either need more time to find their purpose, or they may forget the original goal altogether. Either way, they will not experience your website in a user-friendly way, and they are likely to be dissatisfied and unintentionally come back.
Visitors come to your website with specific goals. Your job is to help them achieve these goals as quickly as possible. If you can do this, your visitors will be happy, and you have laid the foundation for a positive experience.
A clear and usable design can be achieved in the following ways:
- simple – Focus on the important things. If you don’t distract your visitors, they will be more likely to do what you want them to do.
- Familiarity – Stick to what people already know. There There is nothing wrong with checking other websites for inspiration.
- consistency -Don’t be cute. Create a consistent experience across the entire site and give visitors peace of mind.
- guide – Hold the hand of your visitor. Don’t expect your visitors to explore your website on their own. Instead, guide them to browse your website and show them the services you provide.
- Direct feedback – Feedback is essential for any interaction. When people interact with your website, make sure to provide an indication of their success or failure.
- Good information architecture – Understand the mental model of visitors and how they want you to structure the content on your website.
Apple
Apple Known for its lean and user-friendly products. The extreme simplicity of the brand and the focus on what really matters can also be found on their website.
The overall appearance is very elegant and simple. There is a lot of blank space, and only relevant content is presented in a clean and direct way. The classic top navigation menu contains a logo and home button, shop, different product categories, links to support pages, and search functions. The footer of the site contains classic secondary links, such as terms of use and privacy policy.
Without distractions, you can easily achieve your goals on the website. For example, when you select the category “Mac” in the top navigation, you can intuitively understand the different Mac products available. In addition, you will get a sub-navigation that lists all related products related to this category. The clear design makes the website as intuitive and easy to use as all other Apple products.
3. Learnability
Ease of learning is another important aspect of usability.
Your goal should be to design intuitive interfaces—interfaces that don’t require explanation, or even a lengthy trial and error process to figure them out. The key to intuitive design is to use what people already know, or to create something new that is easy to learn.
So far, people have been familiar with many design concepts used on the web. By using these concepts consistently, you can meet the expectations of your visitors. In this way, you can help them achieve their goals faster. As humans, we like patterns and recognition, which is why we are better at dealing with familiar situations than unfamiliar situations.
If you use new concepts in your design, make sure to use them consistently and help people in the initial learning phase. For example, you can provide additional information or instructions when they use your website or product for the first time. Keep it simple and intuitive to help people remember new concepts.
Microsoft
Microsoft They redesigned their website last year.
Although the design is very fresh and modern, the layout of the website is classic, in line with what most of us understand about the website. In the upper left corner, there is a sign telling us where we are. In the upper right corner, there is a search field that allows us to search for any random term in the site. Below is the top navigation menu, showing the central content categories of the site. When we click on the link, we see a drop-down menu with all the content available in that category.
Then, there is a large visual title element, which alternates between four different images. Behind the title is the content area as we know it, with a vertical sub-navigation menu that contains different topics that can be “discovered” and some highlighted content. Below it, there is a social media section and a comprehensive footer area with other Microsoft sites and more auxiliary links.
The website is very clean and easy to navigate. Familiar layout helps people quickly find what they are looking for.
4. Reputation
Trustworthiness is an important aspect of any website.
Even if people find the content they are looking for, if they don’t trust you, the content is worthless. Your website may cause website visitors to doubt your business in a variety of ways, including whether you really exist, your reputation, or the quality of your content.
It’s important to let people know that you are a real company with real employees. Provide a clear “About Us” page with your contact information and physical address (if possible).
Of course, your content also plays an important role in the credibility of the website. Make sure you are honest and accurate with your content. Avoid mistakes, such as incorrect grammar or spelling errors. Don’t be humble with your expertise. If you are an expert in your field, make sure people know this. For example, you can display the number of third-party recommendations, job recommendations, or social media followers to attract visitors.
L’Oreal
The L’Oréal brand has done a good job of building credibility on the Internet.
In addition to the professional design that matches the brand’s superb reputation, they also provide a lot of high-quality content to showcase their expertise.
For example, the entire content section covers information about research and innovation. This shows the brand’s investment in professional research and reflects the high quality of its products. Another part of the content involves commitments, indicating that the brand takes its social responsibility seriously.
In addition to actual research, the brand also uses expert recommendations and photos of celebrities, such as Julia Roberts, to make people believe in the quality and popularity of their products. Another indicator of trust is that it is easy to get in touch with L’Oréal. The brand is not only available through social media, but also easy to find the actual address and phone number.
5. Relevance
Last but not least, relevance helps improve the usability of the website.
It is not enough for your website to be clear; your content must also be relevant. Likewise, you must understand your users and why they visit your website.
First define who your users are. Second, talk to them to understand what their goals are when they visit your website. Third, define user scenarios and show what kind of content people visit your website under what circumstances. Any design decision you make should provide your users with a more user-friendly website.
Nike
Nike Do a good job of prioritizing their content and focusing on their users.
The brand provides sportswear and equipment suitable for different sports. When visiting their website, you can choose to browse their store by men, women or children, or browse by sport. Nike doesn’t just group people by age or gender, but treats their visitors as athletes in a particular discipline.
For example, if you are looking for new running shoes, you won’t even care about all the tennis shoes or indoor sports shoes they own. Nike allows you to browse their stores based on your very specific goals.
Usability means testing, testing, and retesting
Good usability does not happen overnight.
It requires thorough user research and an iterative method of continuous testing and improvement.
Good usability depends on whether your website is usable, clear, trustworthy, learnable, and relevant to the people who actually use it.
