09 Mar 2016
Your website should be easy to use. If it isn’t your site visitors will be frustrated and may leave for your competitors website. The term for making a website easy to use is known as “usability”.
We consider usability throughout the design and development process. The following list outlines how your website is easy for your visitors to use.
- Clear and concise navigation that is consistent on all pages. The navigation labels tell the user where they will be taken when they click. The navigation is kept short to avoid confusing the user. If necessary we organise menu items into related drop-downs so that the clutter is removed.
- Logical division of content on your web page. We clearly divide your website into easy to understand sections. The alternative is a website that is confusing and cluttered and difficult to understand. We use headings to clearly label each section.
- No broken links. We use a link checker to avoid broken links on your website. If one of your website visitors types an incorrect web address for your site we use a custom error page to display a friendly message and sitemap rather than a broken 404 page.
- Strong branding. Your company brand and colour scheme is evident throughout your site to reinforce your brand and let the user know what site they are on, particularly if there are many tabs open in their browser.
- The purpose of your website is clear in less than 5 seconds. If your site visitor is not sure that your website satisfies their needs they will go elsewhere so it is important to make this clear immediately.
- For readability we ensure a good text to background contrast.
- Site load time is reasonable. We maintain this by using small size images and optimised code. In addition to this being a usability factor this is considered by Google when ranking your website.
- Site search is included so that a “lost” user can easily find the content that they require.
- The most important content is immediately visible. If your goal is to sell a product then we highlight your product on the home page and use clear calls to the user to make a purchase.
- Whitespace is used liberally to avoid clutter and give the users eye somewhere to rest while visiting your site. This is often misunderstood but very important for the user experience.
