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Websites: guidelines for designing usability.

Article Excerpt
[check] This checklist aims to help those who wish to design usable websites. It assumes a basic knowledge of the Internet and web browsers. The Internet is a powerful medium for business and the main factor that encourages people to return to a site is its 'ease-of-use' or 'usability'. After all, a business's competitors are only a mouse-click away.

Definition

A website is a collection of web pages in a specific location indicated by the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on the Internet. People navigate web pages in order to find information or obtain a service. Website usability is the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which people find what they are looking for.

Research has shown that customers expect to find menus, logos and so on in specific areas on a web page. By following such established conventions, websites immediately become more usable.

Advantages of designing website usability

* The rules for implementing website usability are easy to understand.

* Website usability can be tested, measured, and improved upon.

* Free software validators exist to check that your website is cleanly implemented.

Disadvantages of designing website usability

* No matter how usable your website becomes, you cannot design for every user. There are too many ways of accessing the Internet (mobile phones, screen readers and television for example).

* Following usability rules may restrict your ability to create a 'flashy' website.

Action checklist

1. Test download time and access to the main page Web pages should take less than 10 seconds to download. If they take longer, look at your graphics and illustrations--trim them. They

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