KISS – Response paper 7

Usability is bridging the gap between people and machines. All websites should have core constructs, like a shopping cart, site map, search box and easy to use buttons and links. They can look and operate very differently from each other. Audiences don’t want to think about what, where, and how, people want information fast. Simple things can be very creative; a simple site doesn’t have to be bland in look and feel. Simple means easy to operate, get things done painlessly. Design for the lowest common denominator without sacrificing artistry and creativity. Throughout the design process the user should not need to expend any mental energy on trying to figure out the site, so create a friendly and successful design.

While designing a site the following factors need to be addressed: a clear visual hierarchy, the color schemes for the website, message that a page needs to communicate, target audience for the website and every page. A focal point followed by areas of subsequent importance on a page will break up the information into logical parts also called “chunking”. Capture images that convey the visual essence the site is intended for. Incorporating multi media elements where viewers can sample pieces from past or upcoming events/concerts, in addition to consistency in design layout and content structure provide web users a functional sequence of interactions. Web standards create an efficient environment, takes less time to accomplish a particular task, is easier to learn and more satisfying to use leading to ‘naturalistic decision making’, (Gary Klien). This ensures that the customer will return, resulting in profits. The presence of a search box will give the site more functionality, and a trail of breadcrumbs will help the user navigate without getting lost in virtual space. In many cases, users want to avoid wasting time looking at home pages or ‘Flash’ enhanced splash pages. The viewer needs to get to the desired information as quickly as possible.

To hold viewer interest, provide a lot of feedback in the form of interactivity, and avoid embedding precious information many layers deep in the site map. According to Nielsen, websites need to be human centered, studying the user and figuring out how they do things differently. ‘Deep – linking to the correct product page enhances usability’ (Nielsen’s). Throughout the site, every element that is on a page needs to have a purpose, a function. A great example is the Google search engine, and Amazon, where there is beauty in simplicity and form follows function. A good presentation should have information, be easy to use, and have artistic integrity at the same time. Many sites will communicate to the user that he/she is leaving the site. This of course is one way of handling site departure issue. Another way is to make sure that the site maintains one consistent look and feel throughout all pages. This can be done with the help of server-side “includes” that forces all pages to be created in one unified shell. This way, when the user does depart the site and is presented with a different look and feel, they will automatically know they have left the site.

Overall, the site’s coding can be streamlined with CSS presentation. This would also help in future redesigns or updates as only a handful of attributes need to be altered to change the look of the entire site. Going with a pure CSS layout would reduce the amount of code on each page to promote faster download times. In this rapidly evolving digital age of wireless phones, tablets and other communication devices; presentation of content will need to be fine tuned. We will need to think ahead of not only presenting a web document, but also how it will interact with and optimize it to other mobile media. “Sites need to be able to interact in one single, universal space” (Tim Berners-Lee). The successfully designed website would effectively communicate the company’s message, mission and goals. The structure, navigation and new technology incorporated in the site should be aimed at improving functionality and appeal to users by making it such that users do not need to think.

References:

Krug, Steve, Don’t Make Me Think (2006)

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020303.html

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/goal-oriented-design.cfm\

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/building_the_business_game_plan/

http://www.vordweb.co.uk/specification.htm

www.alistapart.com