Learning about website usability is something that I really enjoy doing. I’m not really sure why it is so interesting to me, but it is. I thought I would put together a few website usability tips that you can implement right now.
1. Have proper color contrast – I come across websites everyday that use colors very poorly. For instance a site might have a dark background and also use a dark colored font for their content. This is a usability nightmare. Most people will scan a website for just a few seconds and if something turns them off they will just leave. This will turn them off big time.
2. Use a consistent color for clickable links – I personally prefer blue, and many usability experts do too. However, I understand that blue links may make the whole “look” of your website a little off. The point here is to use a consistent color for all clickable links on your website. Having a variety of different colors can confuse your visitors.
3. Shorten headlines and links - You never want to make your visitors read any more than they need to. People have VERY short attention spans when reading (myself included). Forcing them to read a 20 word long headline or link is a bad idea if you value the success of your website. For example, “Read more here” is much more user friendly than “More informative articles are available here.”
Small details can make a huge difference. Don’t believe me? Guys like Jakob Nielsen get paid big bucks to find super-small usability issues.
I hope these tips are useful to you. Hearing about things that annoy you when visiting a website would be awesome! Feel free to comment below.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Nate,
Okay, since you asked… it really bugs me when you have to jump through hoops to do something simple, like submit a comment or email the blogger, or especially when you can’t get to a common link without several dozen clicks. Even if I love the content of the site, each visit is so painful, I often end up never returning.
Scott