Website Usability

 

Usability can make or break your website. Always remember that the most important thing about any website is the people who use the website. There are a few simple questions to ask when questioning the design of a website:

• Is it easy to use?
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Is it of interest?
• Does it look good?

When designing websites you always have to remember to design it for the right person. Often the site isn't for the person who owns the site, and very very rarely is it for the person who designs the site. That's why, here at Marmalade on Toast, we try to put the user first. Their is nothing worse than going to a site that looks all pretty, but then not knowing how to use it.

Recently, users have began to understand good design, and the common thought is that you have 3 seconds to convince a user to stay on your site. The 3 second rule is a bit of a myth, however it can be a good thing to go buy. So to convince the user to stay on your site, a beautiful design certainly helps. However, often the problem with designing beautiful sites is that old browsers, such as Internet Explorer 6 does not render the site the same as more modern browsers. So we use a process called 'progressive enhancement'. This means that in modern browsers it looks beautiful. However in older browsers it looks almost as good, but, and most importantly, it still 'works' perfectly.

One major factor with websites is loading time. We use various tools to make sure our websites load within an 'acceptable' time; this helps to keep visitors on the site and improve the site's SEO (search engine optimisation).