Free Adobe Photoshop website templates by Colorifer.com. Web design articles
articles.colorifer.com - articles about web design

Nine Effective Tips For Improving Your Website's Usability


Web usability is perhaps the most important factor in any web design. This is the driving factor that keeps your visitors coming back to your website. Given below are a few points that you need to consider to increase your website's usability.

Points to consider for improving web usability

1.) Give your visitor what he is looking for

A visitor means business; he is looking for information and will stay in your site only as long as he gets what he wants. So provide only relevant information on your homepage that is specific to your end users. Web logs are the best means of finding out which keyword your visitor used and for what purpose he could have visited your website.

2.) Tell your visitor what your site is all about

Often websites are crammed with information in no specific order making it hard to figure out what the site is all about! Your site should give information about what it can offer a visitor on an instant basis. You can do this by providing relevant information on the homepage. You can also provide links like 'about us' or 'about this website' for further clarification.

3.) Provide site wide links

Site wide links are very important in any website. They allow easy navigation to all pages and reduce time consumed on browsing the pages. Your user can have instant access to what he is looking for from any webpage using the site wide links. They also allow the search engine robots to cache your pages efficiently. Site wide links can be provided at the bottom of all web-pages.

4.) Provide a sitemap

A sitemap is the mark of a good website. Sitemaps give the skeleton of an entire site on a single webpage with all links. As site maps are specifically meant to provide site information they can lead to efficient browsing.

5.) Ensure that your website loads fast

No one likes pages that take long time to load. Your website visitor takes decisions in seconds and it won't take him long to press the back button or type another address to access other related websites. So make sure that your site loads fast.

The possible reasons for long loading times are

  • Use of large graphics, java applets, flash programs or ad banners
  • Inappropriate use of tables, like placing the entire page under a table
  • Placing too much information (more than 50K) on one page
  • Use of free or inferior hosting services resulting in slow data transfer
    Use of bad or junk html codes


6.) Improve site's navigation using icons

Site navigation is an important aspect of web usability. Making use of unique XP style icons can really make your site appealing at the same time adding to easy navigation. Some businesses that offer XP style icons are http://www.icongalore.com , iconpharm.com etc. Icongalore.com offers high quality XP icons at costs as low as $3/icon.

7.) If your site has too much content ensure readability

Poor readability can cause your users to leave. Poor readability occurs due to use of small fonts, poor color combinations, long sentences, repeating background images and improper headings.

Tips to improve readability

  • Make use proper font size. Generally a font size of 10 to 12 would ensure fast reading
  • Make use of proper font types and make sure to use only one font type through- out the page. Verdana or Arial fonts are best for online reading
  • Avoid using long sentences. Break your long sentences into shorter and interesting ones
  • Avoid making use of static and repeating background images
  • Give proper headings and provide strategic links
  • Keep your content free flowing and explain you point by providing proper bullets. Shorten your paragraphs in two or three
  • Avoid justifying your content

8.) Test your site before launching

Testing your site before loading is very important. You should pick up information like site load times, navigation, information availability, content, browser compatibility etc while testing.

  • Test to see if your site loads in all browsers
  • Test all links and see if they are working
  • Test for site errors if any
  • Test for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
  • Test the site load times


9.) Check your server log data regularly

You server log data is perhaps your best information source to improve your website's usability. You weblog can give you information like keywords used most often to reach your site, website downtimes, pages most visited, exit pages etc. By studying your weblog you can find out the pages that a particular visitor accessed and the page at which he exited. This can help you optimize popular pages and give special attention to pages that seem to have the most exists. Overall studying the server log on a daily basis is very important.
 

http://www.buytemplates.net is a leading web templates provider and has hundreds professionally designed web templates in various categories that come at surprisingly affordable prices. Apart from offering website templates, they also offer allied services like template customization, content insertion, SEO and web hosting service.

 


MORE RESOURCES:

Positive Web Design Now Able To Build Websites In Variety Of Programmes
PR Web (press release)
Positive Web Design has recently adjusted its design procedures and is now in a position to offer clients websites built in a huge variety of programmes. Positive Web Design, a website design and development company based in Chelmsford, Essex, ...

and more »


In Naples, Web Design Is Most Important
Present tense Magazine
In Naples web design is taken care of. Search top companies that will provide you with cutting edge ideas, formats and styles to revamp your website. Online search engines have become increasingly popular when searching for contractors.

and more »


Different aspects of web design
PRWire
Therefore, utmost care should be taken while you go through the process of web design. Though it's not a big deal to get a nice webpage for your website, getting everything in the righ Your website design must be appealing and also cater to the need of ...
A Long Island Web Design Company Now Ready to Offer ServicesEmpowered News (press release)

all 2 news articles »


Town launches new website
Door County Advocate
Ham Rutledge, who will continue to serve as the town's webmaster, said, "Town Web Design created the site, and they've done a marvelous job. They made it very easy for us to maintain and update it right here on the Island. Also, the old site required ...

and more »


Join Us Virtually for The Fundamentals of Web Design
Houston Chronicle
Onsharp will be hosting a free webinar about web design on February 10th at 10:00 am CST. Onsharp will be hosting a free webinar about web design on February 10th at 10:00 am CST. Whether it's a designer new to the web design world or an experienced ...



Important facts about website design
PRWire
Web design is an emerging market. With the advent of free and easy access of internet, website design is taking up an important place in the lives of business. Before you venture into the market of web design there are a few things that you must know ...

and more »


iD Tech Camps Introduces New Web Design & Photography Class
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Summer education leader iD Tech Camps has announced a new class, Intro to Web Design & Photography. Students will learn the principles of web design, graphic arts, and photography in weeklong summer classes with personalized curriculum.

and more »


Austin Web Design and Internet Marketing Company, Boom Consulting, Publically ...
PR Web (press release)
With Boom Consulting's all-inclusive web design, web development, and Internet marketing packages or a la carte offerings, even companies with the tightest of budgets can afford to have an eye-catching, multi-functional Web presence that's essential ...

and more »


Virginia Web Design Firm Offers $1000 Small Business Incentive
Daily Markets
Advanced Web, a Virginia web design firm, is offering small businesses $1000 worth of web services for free when they engage in a new contract for web development or for search engine optimization from now until the end of February.

and more »


Sigma Infotech – The pioneers in the world of web design
PRWire
As the sites contain prime keywords, it maintains a high rank in the search result pages. • Apart from the aspect of web design, the company also provides effective solutions in software development and other web development services.


Google News

2007-2008 © Copyright colorifer.com. All Rights Reserved.
Free Adobe Photoshop templates.
Web Design Articles | Site Map | Terms of Use