User interfaces

WWW design issues

First question in design: who are the users? What are their needs?

Opening page design tips

• design it like the cover of a magazine (or fill with current information?)
• do not clutter it with one-time information, if you assume that people will come many times to the page
• keep announcements concise

Design effective menus

• keep entries short
• divide if the list is long (more than 10 items)
• pick meaningful categories
• fit in one scrolling zone
• suggest sequence
• display only one or two levels at a time
• limit the number of levels
• distinguish different kinds of targets
• folders, feedback forms, presentation pages
• orient visitors: you are here

Accommodate different levels of technology

• do not squander bandwidth
• provide multiple versions (video, animation, picture, voice, text only)
• avoid long texts: break up large areas of text
• many pages, paragraphs into lists, graphics

Globalize

• use standard "international English"
• spell out abbreviations
• the passive should be avoided
• avoid local expressions (zip code, inside jokes, dollar signs, flags, ..)
• state dates clearly (09/09/08), also decimals
• use symbols with care (hand gestures, religious symbols, colours, animals, ..)
• show proper respect when addressing people

Let visitors choose what to download

• preview
• give size of file
• HTML/ PDF -printable format, page size
• avoid plug-ins

from BYTE (03/14/01) :

User friendly - Improving site usability

By Lynn Ginsburg and Josef Pusedu, WebTools

Usability is the practice of designing and architecting websites to focus on the user's experience. The International Standards Organization (ISO) official definition, usability is "The effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users can achieve tasks in a particular environment of a product. High usability means a system is easy to learn and remember; efficient, visually pleasing and fun to use; and quick to recover from errors."

Online shops: Online shoppers have little brand loyalty. So when a user encounters an obstacle on your site whether that be slow performance, confusing layout, or dead-end links they're likely to bail straight into the arms of competitors.
Zona Research 5/01: about half of purchases were interrupted by the client because of slow site.

Process of evaluating your site's usability:

• first examine your underlying information architecture,
• the way your site is organized,
• how the content is logically arranged, and
• how your navigation scheme lets users quickly find their way around

Hierarchical organization
Linear navigation

A simple, yet effective way to map out a site's architecture is using paper mockups:
sticky notes, white boards

Analyze the logic of your site's organization:

• Do your categories and resulting subcategories make consistent sense?
• Could a subcategory fit better under a different main category?
• Should a subcategory appear under two different categories?
• Or should two different subcategories cross-reference each other?

Go With The User Flow:

• create paper-based user flows
• start to build out the individual screens of your site,
• including all of the links, navigation and widgets necessary to support a specific user task.

It can also help you to identify and prioritize the most important tasks that a site visitor should be able to accomplish easily (like successfully finding and buying a product) feedback from real live users.

Make a script to test specific usability issues on your site:

users run through the script - users discover problems you may not be able to see because you're too close to your own site.

Different audience types pose different challenges for usability.

Created by: Jaana Holvikivi Updated: 5.11.2008