Synergi Design Usability Of Our Web Design
Straightforward Layout Navigation Text and Design
Website usability is about ensuring that visitors to your website can find what
they want, read or assimilate it easily and carry out any functions (eg online shopping) in a logical and straightforward
way. It is about knowing who your users are likely to be and removing any barriers
to effective access.
First impressions are very important, especially when entering a website for the
first time. Layout, navigation, text and design are all key items.
Synergi Design create all our websites with usability foremost in our mind. We
can also conduct reviews of existing websites to assess what can be done to improve
their usability. Our aim is to apply targeted web design that will maximise the effectiveness
of your website.
Why is web usability so important?
Unless your customers can use your website properly it is not going to repay your
investment in it. If your website has been around for some time, or was not designed
by a professional, it would be advisable to have an assessment of its usability.
If potential customers find a website inefficient, slow, confusing or difficult
to navigate they usually complain to their friends, not to the site owners! This
cannot be good for business.
Questions you should ask
If you have an existing website you should seriously consider its usability. Look
at the website and ask these questions:
- Is the navigation logical to users, especially first-time visitors?
- Does the website load quickly?
- Do the links work - can the search engine find all the pages?
- Is the structure consistent with that of other websites?
- Is the text easy to read?
- Does the website have barriers to usability such as a requirement to register to
obtain information, or a need to download extra software?
- Is the website cluttered with advertisements and unnecessary, irritating graphics
that reduce its usability?
What can be done to improve usability?
When Synergi Design create bespoke websites, usability is central
to the design process. Our customers, whether small or large businesses or not-for-profit
organisations, can be confident that visitors to their website will be able to use
its facilities in a confident and relaxed manner and return to it again and again.
Synergi Design can also review and assess existing websites to check usability.
Strategies we employ to maximise usability include:
- Ensuring the website adequately and accurately reflects your business;
- Using our web design skills to improve the look and feel of the website;
- Improving usability of text and layout so that important items stand out when text
is scanned by viewers and information is easy to read;
- Upgrading website navigation by employing the conventions that users have learned
to expect on internet sites;
- Applying search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies
to ensure search engines can index all the pages on your website;
- Inserting ample internal and external links;
- Ensuring that the website meets national and international standards of accessibility
for disabled people.
Never forget that your website is an investment and if its usability is impaired,
then so also will be your profit from it:
- Every £1 invested in improving your website's usability returns £10 to £100
(source: IBM)
- A web usability redesign can increase the sales/conversion rate by 100%
(source:
Jakob Nielson)
We can assist with:
- Reviewing and assessing the usability of your existing website
- Making changes to your exsting website to improve usability
- Creating a new, fully usable bespoke website