10 essential usability guidelines for websites
There are hundreds of usability guidelines that must be kept in mind when designing websites. There are different ones concerning the design, user experience, content, navigation, accesibility and so on. Too many. I have outlined the general guidelines I consider most essential:
- Provide compelling and useful content. Use appropriate language and tone for your audience.
- Crearly state the goals of the website. What can a user expect?
- Define a clear hierarchy of information. Options that don’t belong to the hierarchy should be less prominent than main sections.
- Ensure users always know where they are. Give a name to each page and show it. If your site contains loads of pages, a well designed “breadcrumbs” might be a great solution. Getting lost is so frustrating.
- Unless you have a small and well organized site, a search option is mandatory.
- Following conventions allows users not to think so hard. For example, links have to be clearly identified as clickable.
- Try to lower the learning curve to near zero. Pages should be obvious and self-explanatory. Help users not to make errors. Anticipate them.
- Good writing is important. People scan more than read, so don’t write endless articles. Be concise and highlight the key concepts.
- Keep it simple. Be minimalist. Don’t overload the page with unnecessary gadgets. Minimize page download time.
- Remove everything that doesn’t add value to the user.
What do you think? What other usability guidelines do you consider should be in this list?
