What Is Usability And Why It Is So Important

This article was written in 2007, but strangely enough, we still come across websites and applications that have usability issues. As there are rules in every type of production, there are rules in developing websites. When you are publishing a book, you wouldn’t put its title on the back cover and print pages backward (unless your culture tells you so). There is a certain set of rules in website development, which were created to help a visitor interact with your project in the most efficient way. It is called usability.

Defining Usability

Usability defines certain principles according to which the website has to be laid out, structured, and navigated. There has to be a logic in content structure, the sequence in which parts of content (sections of the site) are presented, careful content selection. In other words, it’s how convenient and easy the website appears to a visitor.

Visual Signals and the Internet

Experts believe that most of the Internet is being looked at rather than read. An average web visitor reacts mostly to the visual signals sent from the screen and proceeds with reading the content only after recognizing some of those signals. Of course, it’s hard to tell when a human eye stops scanning images, colors, and the layout structure, and starts reading the words. But there is a direct correlation between which symbols are shown, how they are designed and written, and how fast the receiver of any visual signal is finding it clear and makes a decision to continue.

Competition in the Digital Realm

Unlike any type of non-digital sources of information, the Internet provides by orders of magnitude greater variety of different kinds of media (websites) which compete with each other. If you are holding a newspaper, you most likely use it for getting the most out of it because it will take you at least to stand up and get another one if you, say, don’t like how the text is formatted or you can’t find what you want. But it won’t take long for your visitor to make a decision about the relevancy and convenience of your website and to immediately close it and move to another one if yours is difficult or unclear how to read or navigate (process, use). And guess, how fast users make a decision if they want to move on? About 0.4 seconds.

The Critical First Few Seconds

Within a few seconds, you have to deliver a clear image of your business, display a graphic idea of your product, and describe how what you are doing may benefit your visitors. Not your customer, not your potential client, but the person who is looking at your website at the moment. You will keep them on your website and help them make it to the Contacts or Check Out pages only if those first several seconds of the visitor’s observing your website are productive.

Usability Testing: It may take a complete redesign to make a good, convenient, logical, and easy to navigate web project if the original one does not meet important usability requirements. That’s why it’s so important to test the future website’s usability before the project is created and the content is structured.

Ensuring Usability:

• Conduct Usability Testing Early:
  • Start usability testing in the early stages of web development to catch potential issues before they become ingrained in the project.
• Prioritize Clear Visual Communication:
  • Emphasize the importance of clear visual signals on the website to guide users efficiently. Optimize images, colors, and layout for maximum impact.
• Streamline Content Structure:
  • Ensure a logical flow in the content structure, making it easy for users to navigate through different sections of the site.
• Optimize for Speed:
  • Focus on reducing loading times, as users make decisions within fractions of a second. Optimize images, utilize browser caching, and minimize unnecessary elements.
• Create a Compelling First Impression:
  • Invest in creating a compelling and clear first impression within the initial seconds of a user visiting the website. Clearly convey your business’s value proposition and benefits.
• Regularly Update and Adapt:
  • Usability standards evolve, so it’s crucial to regularly update and adapt your website to align with current best practices and user expectations.