Usability
Availability & Accessibility
Clarity
Learn-ability
Credibility
Relevance
+ Fun Stats
Availability & Accessibility
The user doesn't care.
They came for info and if you don't have it....
- Uptime.
- Broken Links.
- Wait time.
- Mobile responsiveness.
Clarity
Don't waste the users time and let them know what is happening.
- Keep it simple - say only what you need to.
- Consistent experience across the domain/site.
- There is nothing wrong with being a sheep.
- People are comfortable with what they know.
- Guide them through the site with ease.
- Feedback is good in almost all interactions.
- "Your post was successful."
- "We are experiencing high volumes at present"
- "Your post was flagged as inappropriate"
Learn-ability
Your user interface should be intuitive and easy to get to know.
If you implement a new concept in the sites design,
make sure you do it consistently.
Credibility
Even if you have the info people need they need to trust you.
Impressions of credibility can come from things like...
- Content - especially on forums.
- Spelling and grammar mistakes.
- Layout - especially with adds.
Credibility can be boosted with features like....
- An about us page/section.
- Testimonials/references.
- Likes or follower counts.
Relevance
This is just more common sense and relates more to business objectives.
Understand your users and what they use your site for.
Ensure all content is relevant to these functions.
Fun Statistics and helpful tips
- Form labels always look best above the field.
- People pay attention to faces and where faces are looking.
- Users generally judge a book by its cover.
- 77% of users don't scroll on the first visit to a page.
- Blue is the becoming the standardised link color.
- The ideal search box size is 27 characters long.
- White space helps in comprehension.
- Advertising looking material is ignored.
- Optimal number of characters per line is between 55 and 75
Usability
By Tom McCavana
