What is usability?
Learn how to assess the usability of your website.
Check whether your website needs fast improvement.
USABILITY
refers to the ease and convenience of navigating a website. Usability influences the satisfaction of website visitors, who like to navigate our website with ease.
What should be verified first and foremost?
- Compare the font size on your website with fonts at e.g. onet.pl, amazon.com, yahoo.com
These website were designed in line with usability principles. Make sure your font size is not too small. It is hard to read texts in higher resolutions. I use 1280x960 myself. For your information, ca. 87% users use 1024x768 or higher resolution.
- Are your links clearly described?
A user or potential customer must be certain which elements on your website are links and which are graphics or text.
I noticed that images found on websites are often poorly described, i.e. text appears only after you click or hover over an image.
- Does your website include an intro that is unnecessary (from the point of view of usability)?
The intro is quite popular and rather grandiose. REMEMBER! It is unnecessary from the point of view of usability. It consumes the user’s valuable time as they have to click (the intro or another element) just to turn it off, which is distracting. After all, the user visits your website for a specific purpose, not to view the intro.
- Are all website menu items always interpreted the same way?
Selecting a wrong name for your website or its section is a frequent mistake, which can be easily avoided. The user should know what to expect from a given menu/submenu item. A name that is too vague can make it difficult to identify the content of a given subpage.
- Is your company logo located in the top left corner?
Is the logo clickable? Are you redirected to the homepage if you click the logo?
- Is your website menu clearly described?
For example, if you activate a menu item, is it highlighted using e.g. a different color?
- Does it take three clicks at most to get from the homepage to any part of your website?
- Is it possible to get back to the homepage from any part of your website?
- Does your website include a website-specific search engine?
- Do you have a subpage with a sitemap?
- Does each subpage have its own and well-matching title?
- Do you use cookies?
That is, small files that store user preferences applied during subsequent visits? For example, if you have a website available in two languages, a person who chose Polish once will always see the website in Polish (unless they modify the preferences themselves).
As far as usability is concerned, the MENU may be either on the left or the right side.
How to check whether your website is in line with usability principles?
You have two options.
FREE TESTING:
Invite a friend to your home and make them a good coffee. Ask them to help you improve your website. Talk to them and ask them to visit your website and find something you/they want.
I think it is best to tell them right away that you want to analyze their behavior to discover the level of your website’s usability.
However, your friend might become edgy and tense.
Notice how the mouse cursor moves across the screen. Usually, people unconsciously move their mouse cursor to what they are currently looking at. Check whether your friend’s cursor wanders around. Do they make mistakes? Do they find what you asked them to look for quickly and easily? If you notice any sign of impatience, think of it as a warning that your website is not functional. A stranger having hard time navigating your website will probably close it and go to the competition.
Remember that your friend is doing you a favor by helping you test your website. Make them feel relaxed and avoid giving instructions to make the test more reliable.
Test your website with the help of several friends. Mistakes are often found by more than one person. By asking several friends to test your website, you can correctly identify mistakes and corroborate the observations of the first friend who tested your website.
PAID TESTING:
Paid tests are carried out in a special studio. The website tester sits in an isolated room. They receive requests to find something on the website. In another room, specialists look at monitors and analyze the user’s behavior and reactions as well as mouse cursor movement. However, such tests are expensive and usually only the owners of large websites can afford them.
Both paid and free testing of website usability is aimed at checking whether the names are correct and the content is of good quality, whether website navigation is natural and whether it is easy to find information.
