Web usability
A full version of this article is available at http://www.managers.org.uk/ (written, July 2003)
Web site usability is the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which people find what they are looking for. Research has shown that customers expect to find menus, logos, etc., in specific areas on a web page. By following such established conventions, web sites immediately become more usable.
Download time and main page
- Any web page should take less than 10 seconds to download. Illustrations should use use 5-15% of the page layout.
- Do not use automatic playing music or frames.
Page layout
Users expect a specific page layout:
- Page layout should be optimized for a width of 770 pixels (a range of 620-1024 pixels) and one or two screens long (maximum 1000 to 1600 pixels).
- The logo should be in the top left hand corner and a maximum of 80 x 86 pixels.
- The search facility should be in the top left or top right hand corner of homepage, preferably a white box of 25-30 characters.
- Use icons (e.g. buttons, tabs, envelope to indicate mail) that are clearly recognisable.
- Be conventional when naming your navigation areas: Jobs, About us, Contact us.
Navigation
Every user should be able to look at a page in your web site and answer the questions:
- Where am I? Where have I been? Where can I go? What is here? Navigation from the ‘home’ page to other pages in the web site usually involves one of four types:.
- Left hand rail (e.g. http://news.bbc.co.uk ) .
- Tabs at the top (e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk ).
- Links across the top .
- Categories in the middle of the page .
Create ‘scannable’ pages
- People ‘scan’ the pages. Make it easy for them:
- Page background should be white and text should be black for maximum contrast.
- Body text is best if it is 12 points and sans-serif (e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Verdana). Limit the number of fonts and sizes you use to a total of 4 on a page.
- Make sure links are prominent.
- Avoid too much use of colour, background images and capital letters. These all slow down the user’s ability to ‘scan’.
Quick test the site
Look at each site on your page and ask:
- What site is this? You need site identification e.g. logo.
- What page am I on? You need a page name e.g. home, services.
- What are the major sections of this site? You need section headings.
- What are my options at this is level? You need local navigation e.g. a menu.
- Where am I in the scheme of things? You need “you are here” indicators.
- How can I search?