We build a website (our dream website!) spend sleepless nights in designing,coding....and some unit testing for sure!!Then with crossed fingers launch it expecting a lot of appreciation from the other side.But is the site paying back your effort?Are the users praising or even worse respecting your efforts?May be no!Why?
- Users need/wants should be solved.
- They don't visit website to know about your organisation,they have a purpose and want to get that purpose done.
- Always make it sure to highlight the purpose of your site.
2) Making users guess!
Basically a result of Mistake 1 where the site doesn't reflect its purpose.Users sometimes dont know where to go and what to do?They know your site sells goods,but they can't find how to buy!! This will irritate users who often have less patience and more options(to search another site).
For Example : Guess how to use this site http://www.gaia-group.com/ !!!
Suggestion : Try out yourself !
- We should get the purpose of the site in say the first 10 seconds.
- Use common terms for common activities.Like for a shopping site,checkout and shopping cart are common terms which a general user will expect.Let them get what they expect!
3) Getting into the way of visitors:
Don't do anything that gets in the way of the sale.Some of the many techniques that get in the way : splash pages,animation,too much text,too many picture,etc.
Suggestion : Help your users pave their way towards using the site,don't divert them otherwise.
4) Navigation Failure :
Some sites make users think
- Where am I?
- Where have I been?
- Where can I go next?
- Where's the Home Page?
Common mistakes include different types of navigation on the same site, a link to the current page on the current page (home page link on home page), poorly worded links so the visitor doesn't know where he'll go if he clicks, no links back to the home page, and confusing links to the home page.
5) Mystery Meats Navigation :
Mystery meat navigation occurs when in order to find specific pages in a site,the user must mouse over unmarked navigation "buttons" - graphics that are usually blank or don't describe their function.
Example : Can you tell the next move http://www.gaia-group.com/index2.htm
Web designer and usability analyst Vincent Flanders described user interfaces in which it is inordinately difficult for users to discern the destination of navigational hyperlinks - or,in severe cases,even to determine where the hyperlinks are.
6)Forgetting the purpose of text:
Now a days picture or graphics are replacing text.But proper ratio of graphics and text is always benificial.Following are some difficulties faced if text is replaced with graphics:
- Users ignore legitimate design elements that look like prevalent forms of advertising.After all,when you ignore something,you don't study it in detail to find out what it is.
- It increases the size of the page;increasing page load time.
- It isn't search engine friendly.
- Designers are also fond of using small text which makes reading more difficult.
7) Too much material on one page:
A wall of text is deadly for an interactive experience.Intimidating.Boring.Painful to read.As I said proper proportion of text and graphics is very important; easy to understand and explains concept best.
With so much content vying for attention it’s initially impossible for the eye to settle on one thing. People get confused and people leave.
Following are some tips:
- Subheads
- Bulleted lists
- highlighted keywords
- Short paragraphs
- A simple writing style,and
- de-fluffed language.
8) Not Answering Users Questions:
Users are highly goal-driven on the Web.They visit sites because there's something they want to accomplish--maybe even buy your product.The ultimate failure of a website is to fail to provide the information users are looking for.If you use a vague link description or just say"Click Here" and don't tell people where they'll end up, they could be horribly surprised
For Example: The worst example would be a ecommerce site withour rice listing for their products.
Suggestion: 1) Our site should have direct and accurate answeres to users questions.
2) If you're a dentist, then your web site should look like it belongs to a dentist, not to someone who is going to the opera.Be specific to purpose !
9) Voilating Design conventions :
Consistency is one of the most usability principles,when things always behave the same,users don't have to worry about what will happen.Instead,they know what will happen based on earlier experience and so they feel comfortable and friendly.
10) Misuse of Flash :
Imagine...you have to watch a boring, soundless, twenty second flash intro with no option to skip it. If you're still around when the content loads, the pain doesn't stop. There is a lovely 8 or 10 second delay between when you click one of the navigation options and when the content actually arrives.
I'd like to mention that you often find Flash with Mystery Meat Navigation — taking one bad technique and making it four times worse.
Use of flash is very helpful for better understanding but we should have an option to "Skip it" if we want to and we should make sure that we should use it where needed.
Well this is it!!! Hope it give an insite into the major drawbacks which websites face now-a-days.
Waiting for feedback !!!
Thanks
Gargi
