Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites That Work
A simple, time-efficient way to design, develop and improve your web sites.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites That Work
Introduction
What is a highly usable web site? Highly usable web sites are intuitive. They are transparent. They support the users and allow users to accomplish their goals quickly, efficiently, and easily. In contrast, poor usability means that people using your web site cannot efficiently perform the tasks you intended. Poor usability can come from overly complex web sites, can lead to large numbers of user errors, or can mean that people just don t like using your system. For example, one aspect of usability is that users should know what to do next. They should either be given explicit instructions or the web site should follow some known interaction pattern. If the next steps are not obvious, users will spend precious time trying to figure them out. They may make mistakes or may just leave your web site with a bad feeling (see Figure I-1).
Figure I-1: An Example of Poor Usability.
It isn t clear what's going on. Is something loading? Is the user supposed to click on one of the links? Where are we? Why is the screen mostly blank? Is my browser compatible?
WHAT IS USABILITY?
Usability is defined as the degree to which people (users) can perform a set of required tasks. It is the product of several, sometimes conflicting, design goals:
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Functionally correct: The primary criterion for usability is that the system correctly performs the functions that the user needs. Software that does not allow users to perform their tasks is not usable.
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Efficient to...
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