Web Design

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Web Design

• 01/22/2007

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Most Important Rule

• Dont make me think!
• Web page must be easy to use or people wont use
  it
• When you look at a web page it should be
  self-evident. Obvious, self-explantory

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Things that make us think

• Cute or cleaver names
• Jobs ? Employment Opportunities ? Job-0-Rama
• Non-obvious links or buttons
• Information scattered about
• Too many options

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How we really use the Web

• We dont read pages we scan them
• Were usually in a hurry
• We know we dont need to read everything
• Were good at it

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How we use the Web

• We dont make optimal choices. We satisfice.
• Most of the time we dont choose the best option
• We choose the first reasonable option
• We are in a hurry
• Not much of a penalty for guessing wrong
• Guessing is fun

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How we really use the Web

• We dont figure out how things work. We muddle
  through.
• Very few people take the time to read
  instructions.
• For most of us, it doesnt matter whether we
  understand how something works as long as we can
  use it.
• If we find something that works we stick with it.

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Benefits of Good Design

• Theres a much better chance that users will find
  what they are looking for.
• Theres a better chance that users will
  understand the full range of what your site has
  to offer
• Not just the parts they stumble across
• You have a better chance of steering them to the
  parts of your site that you want them to see

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Good Design

• Create a clear visual hierarchy
• The more important something is the more
  prominent it should be
• Things that are related logically should be
  related visually
• Group items together
• Things are nested visually to show whats part
  of what.

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Web conventions are your friend

• They are very useful
• Conventions only become conventions if they work
• Eg. list of links on the left side of the screen
• Clicking on logo takes you to home page
• Break up pages into clearly defined areas
• Make it obvious whats clickable
• Keep layout simple

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Omit needless works

• Vigorous writing is concise
• Getting rid of excess words has many benefits
• It reduces the noise level of the page
• It makes the useful content more prominent
• It makes the pages shorter, allowing users to see
  more of each page at a glance without scrolling

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Usability as common courtesy

• Things that diminish goodwill
• Hiding information that I want
• Punishing me for not doing things your way
• Asking me for info you really dont need
• Shucking and jiving me
• Putting sizzle in my way
• Your site looks amateurish

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Usability as common courtesy

• Things that increase goodwill
• Know the main things that people want to do on
  your site and make them obvious
• Tell me what I want to know
• Save me steps whenever you can
• Put effort into it
• Make it easy to recover from errors