Usability Consultation

In today's highly competitive Internet marketplace a website must be easy to use and, most importantly, give the user instant access to the information they are seeking. If a website does not fulfill this requirement, a competitor's website is just a click away. Internet users can and will go elsewhere if they cannot find what they are looking for within just a few seconds. As the competition has mounted, website usability has become the most important consideration when designing a website.

Usability Principals

Although there are many usability principals to consider, here is a list of some basics principals of a user friendly website:

• Clear, easy to read navigation that remains consistent throughout the website
• Accessibility features such as printable pages, providing a text only version of the website, site maps, colors, and font sizes
• Search engine optimization
• Quick loading graphics
• Text that carries keywords and gives the user the information they are seeking
• For larger websites, a search feature
• Conduct user testing

For a complete usability evaluation of your website, or more information, please contact our website usability team.

User Testing

User testing is conducted on a website to show areas of the website that need improvement in order to be more user friendly.  Even the best intending website designers and business owners sometimes miss usability issues during the design process, for this reason this type of testing is helpful on both existing websites as well as new websites.

Thorough testing is done by selecting a small, but diverse, group of Internet users to simply use the website being tested.  These people do not have special training but they are encouraged to give their opinions and suggestions.  While they are using the website, the usability consultant watches carefully and notes any additional difficulties with the user experience.