Is Your Website Usable?
Whenever we surf around from site to site, we really realize that some sites are more easy to use than others. Its that usability thing. If you actually sit and watch someone else look at sites and see where they hesitate or stumble for a second, you can learn alot about what works on sites and what doesnt.
One reason that visual design is so important is that it facilitates use, and use is communication. The last thing you want to do is wait to test your site after its completed and all the hard work is done.
When designing your layout, think about where things are located. Are the tabs for pages easy to read? Are they easy to get to? And if someone wants to go back to the home page, is it easy? Even things like colors make a different. You may design a terrific arrow to scroll down the product list with but if it is a color that doesnt work because a reader cant see it, then it isnt so terrific after all. Sometimes when we are passionate about a design, we lose our common sense in a way. We need not only to keep our own but try to project what the user will feel when arriving on a page. It can sometimes be in the smallest details that we make the largest design mistakes.
There are actually web usability testing services, and theyve taught professionals a lot about what makes a website easy to use by comparing different designs. If you arent a pro, then take the time to put yourself in your visitors shoes. It may make all the difference in how successful your site becomes.
