Web Design and Usability

CSE 190 M (Web Programming) Spring 2008

University of Washington

References: J. Nielsen's Designing Web Usability (2)

Except where otherwise noted, the contents of this presentation are © Copyright 2008 Marty Stepp and Jessica Miller and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

What is usability?

• usability: the effectiveness with which users can achieve tasks in one software environment
• studying and improving usability is part of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Visibility and feedback

• visibility: ability for user to find controls that are meant to be interacted with
  • Where are they?
  • What is their state? ("Is this setting on or off?")
• feedback: response from the control to the user before, during, or after an interaction

Common web usability problems

• cluttered or otherwise poor layout
• requires horizontal scrolling, or makes assumptions about user's screen size
• poorly chosen colors
• uses frames
• uses splash screen(s)
• poor or missing navigation controls (Back, Forward, Home)
• text is not scannable (can't be read quickly)

Content usability problems

• most important content isn't on the first page / screenful
• nondescript headings
• too many ads (or things that appear to be ads)
• important site content is contained in PDF documents
• isn't designed to be easily indexed by a search engine
  (HTML title, meta tags, page text, link text, etc.)
• tiny thumbnails of detailed large photos:

Users do not read

vs.

• this also often applies to CSE students

Link usability problems

• links that don't say where they go
• badly chosen link text (such as "Click here for more info")
• links that forcibly open a new browser window
• links opened by complex Javascript needlessly
• visited links don't appear in a different color

Feature usability problems

• poorly performing site search
• having a web search feature (why??)
• not having a site map or other means to navigate the site
• relying on non-standard plugins or browser versions(e.g. Overly reliant on Flash, Java applets, etc.)

Web design suggestions

• place your name and logo on every page and make the logo a link to the home page
• provide search if the site has more than 100 pages
• write straightforward and simple headlines and page titles that clearly explain what the page is about
• structure the page to facilitate scanning and help users ignore large chunks of the page in a single glance: for example, use grouping and subheadings to break a long list into several smaller units
• instead of cramming everything about a product or topic into a single, infinite page, use hypertext to structure the content space into a starting page that provides an overview and several secondary pages that each focus on a specific topic
• use link titles to provide users with a preview of where each link will take them, before they have clicked on it

More web design suggestions

• Use relevance-enhanced image reduction when preparing small photos and images: instead of simply resizing the original image to a tiny and unreadable thumbnail, zoom in on the most relevant detail and use a combination of cropping and resizing.
• Ensure that all important pages are accessible for users with disabilities, especially blind users
• Do the same as everybody else: if most big websites do something in a certain way, then follow along since users will expect things to work the same on your site
• Jakob's Law of the Web User Experience: users spend most of their time on other sites, so that's where they form their expectations for how the Web works
• Test your design with real users as a reality check. People do things in odd and unexpected ways, so even the most carefully planned project will learn from usability testing.

Sites about web design

• A List Apart
• CSS Play
• css/edge
• Design by Fire
• Jeffrey Zeldman Presents
• QuirksMode

Writing for the web

• People read web page text differently than they read books, etc.
• Writing for the web includes:
  • subheads
  • bulleted lists
  • highlighted keywords
  • short paragraphs
  • the "inverted pyramid"
  • (put the most newsworthy information at the top, and then the remaining information follows in order of importance, with the least important at the bottom)
  • a simple writing style

Web pages that suck

What's wrong with each of these web sites?

• http://www.envy-hair.co.uk/index.html
• http://www.corvalliscommunitypages.com/
• http://www.pigletscatering.co.uk/
• http://www.bigbearparties.com/
• http://www.developingwebs.net/
• http://www.bobmarshall.com/
• http://www.orchy.com/dictionary/
• http://www.delmarvadatacenter.com/main.html
• http://www.videosphotosanddjs.com/
• credit: webpagesthatsuck.com

Ajax usability

• since Ajax requests happen in the background, users may not know the page is loading
• well-designed web sites give visual cues to the user so they know to wait

Forms and usability

• client-side validation
• lighting up required elements left blank or filled out incorrectly
• avoiding alert unless absolutely necessary

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• get people to link to your site (particularly popular sites!)
• use relevant keywords in link text
  • example: My friend Marty Stepp is a swell guy!
• set descriptive meta tags
• use a site URL and page title that contains the keywords you want to match
• don't do "black-hat" stuff (link farms, hidden text, etc.)
• use Google Webmaster Tools: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/