web usability
Module 1
Elements of Web Design
design and usability
Design – what is it?
Usability- what is it?
The Web – Make it usable- Ask…
What are the company’s goals for the site?
Who are the site’s users?
What are their goals?
Do different users have different goals?
Experience and expectation
What is Design?
Embedded in everything made by
people
Newborn of Industrial Revolution
Form+content+context/ time=
“experience design” for this new
medium
Internet Designers are morphed from
many designers
What is Good Design?
Good design is good business
“solidity, commodity and delight”
“Fundamental soul of a man made creation
that ends up expressing itself in successive
outer layers of the product or service”
“A form of respect on the part of the producer
for the person who will eventually spend hard
earned cash on the product, use the product,
own the product”
What is good design?
The process and the result of giving
tangible form to human ideas,
constituting the quality of life.”
Scientists spend their time discovering
what’s already there, designers spend
their time inventing what doesn’t exist
Experience Design Firms
Rare medium
Sapient
Oven digital
Razorfish
How much of the web is
usable?
Research at UIE found only 42% of
users were successful in finding
answers
That’s an F in anyone's grade book
User Goals and Missions
Users see the web as a tool that helps
them accomplish missions that
comprise larger goals
User goals: what users are trying to
accomplish
User mission: steps users take to
achieve their goals
So why are sites so unusable?
Different medium
Can’t simply transform text to web
There are some basic things users do
on the web
Follow some basic rules
Test your site with users
Tweak and always retest
Rules…for a user centered
experience
1. No frames
2. No Gratuitous use of technology
3. No Scrolling text, marquees and constant
animations
4. No Complex url’s
5. No Orphan pages
6. No Overly long scrolling pages
7. No non-standard link colors
8. No above the fold white space or ads if it needs
more scrolling
9. No long download times
10. User centric navigation
Tracking the Scent of
Information
Focus on Navigation
Structure is key- general to specific
What is navigation
Browser buttons
Nav panel or buttons
Links
Search engine
Trigger words
Design the Navigation
Scent that works
www.rei.com
Find a tent for 4 ---
informavores tracking scent
Scent that failed
www.nokia.com
You want to purchase a hands free
phone
Pogosticking
Users find no strong scent and resort to
jumping around
Scent blockers
Search engines on site
Navigation panels
Short links and pages
Cute and clever links
False scent
Links that lie
Misinterpreted
Moving towards less specific
Designing for Scent
Content must give off scent
Scent pulls user into site
You need to know:
Why users come to your site
What are trigger words
Where they are likely to look
Avoid back button and search engines
Descriptive links can help
Test with your users
Where do users lose scent?
Are links descriptive?
Do users have a reason to scroll?
Are links too cute?
Are links accurate?
Do link results narrow choices?
Do links fit the context?