COMM 750, Web Studies/Digital Media
Instructor: Ross Collins
Designing Web Usability
Web page designers need to remember the same basic rule of graphic designers working on paper: KISS. The simple design can be most compelling, and easiest for experienced users (that is, most of us) who have little patience with poorly designed sites.
A beginning consideration is the difference between paper presentation and web sites. We've already covered some of this, but it's important to remember that sometimes paper text is better, not only because it's easier to read, but because it's easier to present larger documents, and easier to precisely design illustrations, photos, cutlines and sidebars to complement the text. Will the web someday replace "dead trees" as a mass medium? Possibly. But not today.
Fundamental mistakes that undermine usability include issues we've already discussed, such as structure that mirror's a corporate chart instead of a user's needs, confusing "Notre Dame Cathedral" navigation design, and content designed for print. To further consider usability standards, let's look at common best practices as currently reflected in the wide world of the world wide web:
Download time. Still a major issue; lots of dial-up connections out there. Optimum download time is 10 seconds. A lot of web sites won't load that quickly, even if a user is on DSL or cable modem. If your site takes more than 30 seconds to download, people will abort--even if it's the server's fault.
Page width. Rule used to be no bigger than 800 x 600 pixels. But more and more people have larger monitors. Best practices recommends "liquid" rather than "frozen" layout--that is, layout that will grow or shrink to fit a screen without large margins of wasted white space. Length: scrolling down a home page is now all right, to an extent, but limit it to 3-4 screens. A word about frames. That is, setting up a web site with multiple pages appearing together. A user can keep the same navigation bar while viewing different links. Most webmasters do not use frames, however, because they irritate some browsers and cause printing problems.
Logo. Must be included; most common is upper left corner. Should also serve as a link to the home page.
Search box. Highly recommended, placed at top so easily seen. Color: white; people are used to typing text into white boxes. A search box linked to a home page, instead of displayed on the home page, is not as usable--although I'll admit that's what my web site used to use. But, hey, who said you ought to copy "Notre Dame Cathedral?" (In fact, I recast the site last summer to take advantage of CSS.)
Navigation index. Four popular placements: left side, across top, middle of page, or tabs. All are considered acceptable. A second index is often included at the bottom, but many users find it confusing.
Splash pages. Most webmasters have abandoned these "doors" to a web site that require users to wait for downloading without a link. Routing pages, however, are "doors" which include options before you enter a web site. Popular for webmasters who wish to direct users to several alternative web sites. Some of us (by accident, no doubt) have also seen them as "Warning" pages before entry to, ahem, an explicit content site.
Sign-in or log-in. You can encourage users to register, but it's a turn-off to allow those who don't access to nothing beyond the home page. People like to check the basic site before deciding on registration.
"About us" link. Highly recommended; best practice recommends not including this material on the home page, but in a link, to establish a site's credibility.
Contact information. Must-have, either an e-mail link, address, telephone number, or all three. If you don't want to be contacted a certain way (say you get enough e-mail as it is), you can forego that method, but include the others. If you'd like to discourage contact, include the information in the "About us" link.
Privacy policy. Necessary link if you ask a user to register or give you information.
Basic usability considerations checklist:
Sample web sites to evaluate:
A search site: Yahoo.
A university site: NDSU.
A webmaster professional site: World Organization of Webmasters.
A financial site: TIAA-CREF.
A state promotional site: North Dakota Bureau of Tourism.
And two fun sites: MTV; Rate My Professors.Com.
On-line reading: Web usability research.
Bibliography: Jakob Nielsen & Marie Tahir, Homepage Usability. 50 Websites Deconstructed. (New Riders Publishing, 2002).