What is website usability? Website usability is the ability to understand and use a website correctly. It is about how the website appears to the user in terms of being easy to navigate, the layout, and how pages load and how they display the information that is on them. Website usability is also about how the user feels after they have visited the website and how easy it was for them to get around and find what they were looking for. The ability to perform on-site research and content analysis to determine what the target audience wants and how the website can meet or surpass those needs is part of website usability.
In this chapter, I ll I discuss the importance of testing and improving website usability. A business success criterion is making sure that website usability meets the expectations of the user, that a user can easily find what he/she is looking for and that navigating the website is easy and painless. In this chapter, I ll discuss the importance of testing and improving website usability.
First of all, we need to understand that website usability is more than just about the design and appearance. It is also about navigation, accessibility, functionality, usability at different levels of the SERPs, and other important things. The navigation and usability are most definitely part of the website design and must not be ignored. In some cases where the web designer does not understand the business needs and goals, and does not put usability first, then this is usually an indication that they do not care and have not really thought about the things that really matter to a business.
In today’s society, website usability has become almost a separate branch of internet marketing, with many experts investing lots of time and energy into studying, modeling, and testing various aspects of websites. Website usability professionals also use a variety of tools and techniques for analyzing user behavior and website usability. The most common tools used are usability reports and surveys. These tools and techniques provide valuable information about website usability, such as: What visitors see and do when they first arrive at your website? How do they proceed through your website?
According to Jakob Nielsen, a usability expert based in the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, the first step towards a successful website design is to build a good navigation system. He believes that the first step towards site usability is good navigation. The right navigation system will improve the ease of finding what a user needs to know. He uses the example of a car showroom. If you have a very cluttered car showroom, it will not take long for a visitor to get disoriented and leave the car showroom.
A website usability report can help determine the extent of website usability. The web site usability report should cover the major sections of the website, such as the home page, search bar, links to other web pages, contact us, order forms, blogs and so on. The report should also cover the most important elements for usability testing, such as: whether or not users find the link to another web page functional (i.e. whether users find all the links on the home page functional)
Web development companies often include a website usability test along with website development. During this test, web development professionals observe users navigating the website. This helps them determine which areas of the website need improvement. Some companies also include an in-house usability tester who performs usability tests on their behalf.
Web users’ opinions are valuable tools for website usability testing. To receive feedback, websites must be examined by a number of users; otherwise, the results will be inconclusive and useless. The most effective way to improve website usability is to include usability testing in the overall website development strategy. This ensures that the usability of the website is examined at different stages of its development, ensuring that all parts of the website are improved.