Usability is undoubtedly one of today’s top buzzwords. And for good reason. Nielsen Norman Group (NNG), one of the premier authorities of usability (headed up by the “usability guru” Jakob Nielsen), defines usability as:
[a] quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use.
As stated by NNG, there are 5 components to create high levels of usability:
- Learnability: How easy it is for first-time users to navigate?
- Efficiency: How quickly users can perform tasks?
- Memorability: How easy is it for users to become familiar with the design on a later visit?
- Errors: What are the errors, how bad were they, and can the users recover?
- Satisfaction: Is the website engaging and pleasant to use?
There are many more components, but that’s a working knowledge of usability. The link above goes to a great article by NNG on the subject. (Including the 5Ws and an H.) When working with a website, whether the designer or the project manager, it’s crucial to remember that the user comes first. What could be a great design aesthetic could potentially harm the usability of the website, which may just lead to you ending up on this site. (Always a fun but exasperating read.)
Here are 5 tips to maximize usability. Some are easy to accomplish, while others can take some work. Design, like many things in life, is a work in progress. Every designer changes, gains better skills, and thinks their earlier work is horrible (been there!). As long as you maintain small changes over time, you’ll be in good shape!
1. Don’t change a great idea for the sake of creativity.
Follow the old cliche adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Another NNG article instructs readers to “build on existing mental models”. Essentially, users build their knowledge on past experience. If you forego any principles of design, you’ll lose visitors because your site is clunky and hard to use.
For example, navigation bars. Nearly every website has their main navigation bar across the top of their screen. There’s a reason for this. When you go to a website for the first time, and you want to look to read about the company, where do you look? I would hope you’d say somewhere in the navigation bar, although some also place it in the footer. (If you didn’t, lets chat. I want to know what you do and I seemingly don’t. 😉 )
NNG’s header and navigation areas – pretty standard, right? Standard is the goal for this particular area of a web page.
Cedarville’s navigation bar, plus an additional, less noticeable, one for students, faculty, and other groups. The website is targeted to visitors, not students, so the primary navigation bar is dedicated to giving information about the school.
And, lastly, Twitter’s. Like Facebook, there are sidebar menus, but the most important links are in the navigation bar at the top.
2. Go the way of the buffalo minimalist.
Granted, this is written by a minimalist, so you may beg to differ. However, another part of the same NNG article as above vetoed the idea of clutter. It’s perfectly fine to have typography, images, and more to make the website visually appealing and interesting, but make sure it doesn’t become too cluttered.
Always keep the user in mind. Is it easy to find the necessary information? Is finding the search bar a quick process? Answering these questions can help you maintain a visually appealing yet usable website.
3. Test, then re-test.
Try to periodically look at your website with fresh eyes. Invite coworkers or friends/family to engage with the website and see what, if any, design flaws they encounter. Are they having trouble finding the search bar, or are they unable to work the image gallery? By recognizing the problems a site may have, you can begin the process of fixing it.
4. What the f…shaped pattern?
The F-shaped pattern is a term from eye-tracking studies. When a person looks at a website, their eyes move in an F-shaped pattern. They take in the header/navigation bar, the feature area of the page, and the left side of the feature content, and continues to look less and less at the right side of the page. Some websites may not have as a defined shape as others, but this is a good guideline to remember as you’re working to design or modify a website.
5. Less time, money, and work may not be worth it.
Sometimes, less time and less work won’t pay off. Sure, you’re probably paying less, but putting the effort into making a mobile-friendly site can pay off. It all depends on your targeted audience, which is another topic for another day, but if you can swing it, work to incorporate a separate mobile HTML that appears through device detection. (More on this here.)
Usability changes on a mobile device, especially with the swiping motion that accompanies it. This doesn’t have to be an overnight change. Some businesses can’t make it work financially or otherwise, but it’s something to work towards.
Do you have other ways to maximize usability? I want to hear! I’m always looking for new tips and tricks. 🙂 – Hannah
A Pen Still Works 