Bettering the Website User Experience

A web designer working in any website design Sydney Company must know a few fundamental facts about web usability.  This holds particularly true about designers and developers who specialize in building an e-commerce website.

To a web designer, usability of a website is the limit to which a product can be utilized by particular users to reach particular goals. This is conjoined with efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. All this is kept in a particular context of use.

Effectiveness of any website, even an e-commerce website can be quantified by the completeness and accuracy that particular users have achieved particular goals in particular environments. Efficiency on the other hand is defined in terms of resources expended in relation the completeness and accuracy of goals that are achieved. Satisfaction is another important component in the usability of the web. It is explained as the acceptability and comfort of the work system to its users. It is also relevant to people that are affected by its use.

In short, the concept of web usability is the creation of web sites that users want to employ. This is to be done with minimum amount of time, effort and frustration. The end point of this concept is that the users must have a perfect experience of the site. Or the action that will help them to get what they want.

A web designer also must take cognizance of learning from user experiences. This can be achieved by the proper recording of server activity that contains data with regard to usability. This data helps to reconstruct the activities and movement of the company’s site users. This data helps to find out the location of the visitors i.e.  Their demographic identity, the most popular paths taken by visitors when browsing the site and the average time spent by visitors on each web page.

Issues of Color in Web Design

Web design is not an easy affair. Since a website addresses the global audience, it should be made in such a way that it is acceptable to all cultures. Website design Sydney companies understand this and create a design that is pleasing to all and offensive to none.

Color is very important in web design. Before selecting any random color, it is better to know the target audience of the website. For example, blue color should not be used as text. This is because elderly persons are unable to differentiate between different shades of blue. Small blue text becomes almost impossible to read. In fact, a considerable number of older citizens cannot read blue colored font texts at all. Therefore, it is unwise to select blue color as a font color. But, it must be mentioned that the convention of blue underlined links should not be changed. Users of the web have the option of setting hyperlinks and text colors in their browser. It should be ensured that the website should not override the user preferences for link and text colors.

Correct web design should also address the issue of color deficiency. This is important as approximately eight percent of the male population and less than one percent of the female population suffers from a form of color deficiency. Besides this, the use of red and bright blue causes severe headache among users. In medical parlance, this is called Chromostereopsis. A person suffering from this problem will perceive one color floating above the other. Thus, it is better to avoid using bright red and bright blue in the same web page.  For users with disabilities, a multimedia experience can be made better by using a Flash Accessibility Kit. The contents of the kit include free example code and guidelines. This helps to make a website’s Macromedia Flash or SWF movies accessible to all users- including people with disabilities.

Navigational Tools in Web Design

Hyperlinks are very important in web design. According to website design Sydney professionals, hyperlinks can be considered as one of the most important navigation tools in the World Wide Web.  Without hyperlinks, moving around the web will be very difficult. A web designer should utilize the following tips to make sure that the hyperlinks are both usable and accessible to all users.

A web design specialist should utilize action links. The links should be named in the context in which it is used. For example, “Go to Exit” is preferred over simply “Exit” and “Check Email” is preferred to “Email”.

Cross linking is very important in web design navigation. It caters to the fact that different people search things in a different manner. If relevant pages are cross-linked, then users can find what they are searching for. For example, the “Contact us” page should be linked to the FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions page. This is because a visitor may have a question that is already answered in the FAQ web page. Therefore, there is no need for the website owner or the concerned person to reply to the question via email.  Similarly, the “Checkout” page should be linked to the page titled “Privacy policy”. This is because many users are concerned about the integrity of their monetary privacy when they shop online. A visit to the privacy policy page may reassure them of safety in transactions and also to ensure that the client buys the product or service.

According to good web design principles, text should contain minimal links. Underlined links in blue may distract the attention of the user and may disrupt his or her reading flow. Moreover, links should be placed at the page bottom. The user thus has the option to further explore when he or she has finished reading the text. This approach is the most favorable.

The Three Rules of Good Usability of a Website

Any web design Sydney Company that creates an e-commerce website understands the value of good website navigation. Navigation is directly concerned with the usability of a website. It is independent of both products and content. Navigation is very useful. A site with bad navigation is unlikely to get repeat visitors. The following text explains the processes of navigation that is easy to use.

As any web design Sydney professional will explain, global navigation refers to a set of navigational components that are consistent on every web page in a given website. Global navigation is also known as ‘persistent navigation’. This kind of navigation permits the user to know that he or she is still on the same site by providing essential answers to questions. The nature of questions vary from about the page, the site name,  the principal categories or main departments of the site, the link for the home page and the relationship between the user and the home page. The method of search is also present.

The page title of any e commerce website or any website should conform to rules. The first rule is that every web page should have a title. The only exception to this rule can be the home page. The second rule is that the page title must match the links leading to the page. The title of the page should match nearly the name of the link as that leads to it.  For example, a “Contact Us” link should lead to a page titled “Contact Us”. If you do not want to put the exact name as the title, put the name nearest to the original meaning. In this case, the “Contact Us” page can be named “Email Us”.  The third rule is that the page title should be prominent. It should be above the main content, near the top of the page. This page title is displayed in a larger font face. According to web design Sydney professionals, the font color and typeface can be changed to make it more prominent.

Common Mistakes done when Designing a Web Page

Web designing is a specialized profession. Web design Sydney professionals typically have certain number of years under their belt before they take on large and reputable client projects. This experience is necessary as a comparatively inexperienced person may make mistakes that are easily avoided by experienced professionals.

A prominent mistake in web designing is the presence of too much content in the home page. Excess content is put in so that every item in the home page is promoted. But, according to web design Sydney professionals, it is much more effective to promote the latest or the most popular six offers along with their features. Ideally, the home page should occupy a maximum of two to three visible pages.

There are a number of reasons why web design Sydney professionals forbid to cram excessive content in a web page. The foremost reason is that the web page takes longer to download. This may cross the critical eight seconds waiting time. Studies have revealed that users have a patience threshold of eight seconds before they move on to the next website.  Excess content also decreases the readability of a website. Visitors do not like to read copious amount of text. Lots of text also blurs the useful content from the merely inane. A visitor is inclined to read a maximum of two paragraphs rather than twenty of them.

Another mistake that web designing novices make is that they give too many options in the website. Too many options transform easy web surfing to hard work. An excess of options also results in too much scrolling. A typical user does not like to scroll excessively. As a majority of web users tend to select the first reasonable link or option, the content at the bottom of the page is hardly viewed. Thus, that part of the page being downloaded is a waste of time.

Utilizing Website Real Estate

Website design in its entirety is spread over a number of web pages. Many web pages make up a website. In terms of virtual real estate, the homepage constitutes the most valuable property. And the most prominent and expensive area in the homepage is located “above the fold” area. This constitutes an area that is visible without any kind of scrolling. To any web design Sydney professional, it is natural that, given the paucity of valuable space, the above the fold area should be optimized for maximum commercial gain. However, the space should not be overcrowded.

Rollover pop up windows is graphics or links that open a pop up window when users move the cursor over it. The pop up window can be just a graphic or can be the contents of another web page. They should not be used as a way of optimizing homepage real estate for a number of reasons. One of the foremost reasons is that a pop up window does not function if JavaScript is disabled. This is dependent on the preference of the user. Also, the messages remain hidden until a cursor is moved over a particular link or graphic. That is why rollover pop ups are useless for conveying essential information.  Besides, downloading time is more than text. A majority of rollover pop up windows are images- which involve a much longer download time compared to plain text.  They are also awkward to use. Users must roll the cursor over a graphic or link to activate the pop up window. A lot of space can exist between the point where the cursor is positioned and the pop up window. This constitutes bad usability. Good hand to eye coordination on the part of the reader is also required as the pop up window will disappear when the cursor departs the graphic or link activation area.

Usability and Likeability in Web Design

A good website design is almost always clean and elegant. This goes for e-commerce websites too. A typical web design Sydney Company understands this and makes a final product that is extremely good at what it is supposed to do.

While minimal ornamentation is desired, too much boiling down to the essentials is not desirable. While a few minimal designs look good, most fall short of the mark. Although when minimalist designs look attractive when combined with excellent typography, they are ineffective when it comes to holding the attention of the target audience over the intended span of time.

Every website design has certain features that increase its likeability and usability. Simplicity is not only a design trend, but is also a hallmark of great design. Web design Sydney professionals use Photoshop to create a flexible set of tools that create interest and much needed depth. Subtle details can be added to a hitherto previously blank space. Being an expert in Photoshop translates making clean designs that functions effectively and clearly.

White space is very important in website design- elements of design can be visually separated without the use of boxes, lines or additional graphics. It is compulsory for readability of content and presentation. If it can be used correctly, the white space gives the layout its elegant and clean feel.

When making a website, take the help of Guides and Grids to manually place the elements in their proper places. Aligning the objects using grids and guides makes design easier to digest. The overall look is a more polished.

Website design is also benefited by the creation of depth. It is created with light and shadow. Elements look real and crisp. Shadow effects can be applied to any object, text layer or selection. Choosing a color is very important as the color must match the background. The default of the color is black.