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Web Usability

Anybody can design and put up a web site. It’s even claimed that there are more web pages than there are people in the world! Given the sheer number of sites out there, the ultimate goal should be to have an effective site.

Most people who outsource their web sites choose a web designer based on price and portfolio. But is a fancy design necessarily an effective one? For the DIYers, there are web design and editing tools available and it is relatively easy to create a site that contains some very impressive graphics. But do fancy graphics make a difference?

Web design is a complex subject whose primary goal should be to allow communication between people via computers. Yet some studies have shown that:

• Over 40% of online purchase attempts fail
• 50% of new visitors do not go beyond a site’s home page
• Less than 10% of visitors revisit a site.

Why?
Sites like Amazon and Expedia are extremely successful, so what other sites missing? The answer might be web usability.

What is Usability?

Usablity isn’t quite the same thing as accessibility – although there is no doubt that the two overlap to a degree. Usability is defined as a measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a task. In the context of a web site, this means of measuring how easy it is for a visitor to carry out a task such as finding a given piece of information or buying a certain product

Web usability can be sub-divided into five core components:

Learnability

How easy it is for visitors to find their way around the site during their first visit?

Effectivity

How quickly and easily they can perform tasks?

Memorability

When visitors return to the site after a period of time, how quickly do they recall how to use the site?

Reliability

How many errors do visitors make, how severe are those errors and how easily do they adjust?

Enjoyability

How pleasant is the site to use?

Why Is Usability An Issue?

Simply having a web site does not guarantee a competitive advantage. Potential customers have many choices. Not only are there plenty of other web sites out there but they also have the option of obtaining items, information or services, from real people either by telephone or in person. Web sites, by definition, lack the human touch so they have to work much harder in other areas to entice people in.

Usability is a very complex subject which includes a number of well-established theories such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).

The Theory of Reasoned Action

This theory focuses on how people approach a task and the effect that their preconceptions have on their behaviour. If a person believes that the outcome from performing a task is likely to be positive, she will have a positive attitude towards performing that task. Obviously, the opposite applies if the outcome appears likely to be negative.

If an individual sees, or hears of, others enjoying a positive experience, that person will be motivated to try the task themselves and/or approach the task with positive expectations.

The Technology Acceptance Model

This theory suggests that an individual’s decision to make use of a given system is actually based upon two factors, or perceptions:

Perceived usefulness

Will I get better/easier results if I use this system compared to another system?

Perceived ease of use

Will this system take less effort to use than another one?

So web surfers may automatically classify sites based upon their perceptions of how complex the site appears to be rather than how complex it actually is in reality.

Fancy graphics and presentation may not always impress them. Even if they do initially, the novelty soon wears off. The downside to overly fancy presentations is that they may contribute towards an increased perception of “this site is going to be difficult to use”.

Site functionality and service quality, on the other hand, rarely fail to impress long term.

Determining Site Functionality And Service Quality

Site Functionality

• Can visitors find what they look for quickly and easily?
• Is there a site map or search option?
• Is the site easy to navigate? Even without a mouse?

Service Quality

Service Quality is defined as the extent to which a delivered service level matches customer expectations. Factors affecting perceived service quality include:

• Reliability
• Responsiveness
• Reassurance
• Empathy
• Results

Design Considerations

1. What information needs to be stored?
2. How should this information be organised?
3. What methods should be used for retrieving the information?
4. How should the information be displayed?

One major factor within any web design project is the general impatience of web surfers. People will abandon a web site if is slow to download, they get lost or if the site is difficult to navigate.

The faster speeds of broadband compared to dialup haven’t reduced this impatience. In fact, anecdotal evidence suggests that, if anything, broadband surfers are becoming even more impatient!

Just ask yourself whether you want a great looking web site or you want a web site that visitors find easy to use and love to visit again and again.

If you choose the latter, then usability has to be an important part of the overall site design.