subject: Important Usability Points To Be Taken Care While Designing A Website [print this page] There are lots of website available online and each website has its unique design, content, markup, features, functionality, and in myriad other ways. Creating an easy to use website begins with the earliest planning stages. As the website grows it is important to organize information into logical sections. Remember one thing having too many sections to the website will make it difficult for visitors to find the right information.
Lets see some of the common denominators that can strengthen the web design:
Accessibility:
Your website should be accessible easily. If your website is accessible it means it is compliant with web standards, ease of maintenance, ensuring cross-browser compatibility and a lot more.
A Menu with Easy Navigation:
A website always tends to be navigational. Sometimes it happens that important sections are in remote place and is inaccessible because it might require JavaScript or images in order to function. There upper layers of the website should make such a way that it increases the enhancement of the lower ones.
A few things to remember while designing a menu with proper navigation:
1)Proper organization of the links with the menu
2) Link styling should be proper : active, hover, focus
An Error Page:
Make a good 404 error page which visitor can understand easily and offer a site map on the page, search, even contact info, and more.
A Site Map:
It is advisable to add a site map from the beginning when your website has fewer pages. Keep focus on your site map as your website grows. If you have small website you can incorporate the site map into a "site help" or "site info" page, making it in one go-accessibility. A common practice is to create a flow chart which explains how the website is organized, how each individual page is accessed, and how each section relates to each other. A simple listing of sections, pages, and descriptions help to effectively flesh out the organization of the website.
Jump Links:
A jump link gives the opportunity to user to jump down the page, by-pass lengthy or not required sections, access help content, and jump back to the page. Consider a top link or back to menu link as a jump link and its a good idea to make them visible on the page, but remember its not always necessary. There are ways which allow hiding jump links from view while still maintain a high level of accessibility and usability to users.
Contact Information:
Its good idea to offer a phone number and address. A secure contact form is a nice option in lieu of a mailto: email link that not all visitors will be able to use anyway.
