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Web Usability or Advanced Common Sense

The author of one of my favorite books, Steve Krug (Don’t Make Me Think) compared web usability to advanced common sense. Actually, he named his business that! He gets paid big bucks to do usability analysis on websites and report ways to improve the sites. Using his trained eye, some usability data, and his advanced common sense, he sees what needs too happen. Now, surely I am over simplifying what he does, but I want to make a point that if you know what to look for, you too can achieve advanced common sense on the web.

1. Don’t make me think! – The title of Steve’s book and the first rule of web usability. If you make your users think, they will become confused in large numbers! Structure your website so that each and every page has a clear purpose. On an ecommerce site, when viewing a product detail page, the obvious purpose of that page is for the user to learn about the product and click the add to cart button. Anything else is just fodder and will detract from the pages goal, or it’s call to action.
2. Don’t say it in 10 words if it can be said in 2. - Say what you have to say, and get out. Don’t beat around the bush. While I like nice creative content, be concise and to the point so as to minimize any confusion on the users part.
3. Make your pages cross browser compatible! – This is a must! If your site looks great in Firefox, but looks all jenky in IE7, then your site is experiencing a major usability flaw.
4. Design for your target audience! - If you are designing a site for older people, consider making your default fonts larger so they can read easier, or installing a font size switcher. If you are designing for young mothers, choose colors and designs that appeal to them.
5. Include basic SEO into each and every page! – This means unique title tags that are relevant to the content of the page. When every page title is the name of your business and nothing else, your search ranking will be in the pits. Unless someone search’s for your company by name and not keyword.
6. No automatically starting audio! – It doesn’t matter if it’s the best song in the world and everybody likes it, no one want to hear it on your site! If you must have audio, make it start out turned off. Let the user turn it on if they want to listen.

Those are just a few examples of things you can do to improve your website. To learn more about advanced common sense, pick up Steves book, Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
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