Important Usability Factors for Participative Customer Experience

The term “usability” describes how simple it is to use or access a product or website, and it falls under the umbrella of user experience design. Although usability and user experience design (UX Design) were often used synonymously, it is clear that usability contributes significantly to UX but does not make up the entire experience. 

Usability may be measured with accuracy. A design’s usability isn’t determined by its features alone. Instead, it’s determined by the user, what they want to use it for, and the context in which they accomplish tasks.

Importance of Usability in Website

On the initial visit to the website, the user should have little trouble becoming accustomed to and proficient with the user interface. If we consider a well-designed travel agency website as an example, the user should be able to navigate rapidly through the steps required to book a ticket.

The website should make it simple for users to accomplish their goals. An intelligent design will direct a user via the most straightforward route to buy a ticket if they aim to book a flight.

On subsequent visits, it should be simple to remember the user interface and how to use it. Therefore, a well-designed website should allow users to learn from mistakes and book a second ticket.

There are other conditions for usefulness in addition to these. For instance, when used, a functional interface will be largely error-free. Wireframes, prototypes and the final delivery can all be tested for usability at various stages of the development process. 

When we have higher-fidelity prototypes, testing may be done on-site and remotely. 

Analysing user behaviour and issues with a web design as soon as feasible is crucial. From there, we can use a set of rules with caution; yet, because they are frequently general, we must modify them to fit our particular situation.

Guidelines outline aspects that have been shown to increase usability. We can adjust design modifications by these rules if we consider all the measurements. Sometimes, all it takes is a minor menu layout modification, but other times, it takes looking far higher.

Usability factors

In addition to content, usability is considered during web development and design. The following is an outline of them:

A) Server

One factor that affects usability is the hardware that hosts web pages. There are two major things to think about when choosing servers.

1. Speed

Google does some usability ranking. Speed of page loading is an issue for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) because it is one of the ranking factors. Users abandon a website that loads slowly and responds slowly. 

Based on their capacity, area of expertise, etc., servers impact how quickly a website loads. Naturally, the web designer controls how they serve images, graphics, etc., so it’s not simply servers that affect page speed.

2. Downtime

A website is entirely unreachable when it is down. It’s reasonable to say that most websites occasionally go offline when a server goes down. Some people feel more suffering than others. Therefore selecting a dependable server makes it possible to give superior user experiences. 

A user may shrug and return later after one negative encounter. However, if a person has several poor experiences, they might switch to another website.

B) HTML

Utilise HTML with a focus on providing a better user experience. While user experience ranking on Google exclusively benefits mobile websites, it’s generally fair to assume that this will apply to all platforms in the future. Several essential factors for your HTML include.

1. Not Found 404 Page

Broken links do occur, especially on big websites. Although it’s excellent to verify each link frequently and fix any broken links, it’s a great idea to have a strategy in place in case a user encounters a faulty link.

 The “404 Not Found Page“: A skillfully designed 404 page will work to help the user get back to a happy experience. In this regard, the standard 404 page is useless and clumsy and crude, giving customers the sense that they are at the bottom of an elevator that isn’t connected to a floor. 

They don’t want to swerve and hit an outdated message. Never lose track of that as a designer. Such a small act of courtesy means so much.

2. Employ ALT tags

When used with photos, ALT tags enable you to provide extra information about the image that isn’t shown in the body text. ALT tags aid in search engine indexing, and they allow you to inform the search engine of the image’s content. They also help visually challenged people who utilise screen readers.

C) Visual aspects

You, the designer, typically have the most control over the aesthetic elements that affect the overall user experience. That entails being particularly aware of 

1. The Font Size and Colour

Pick readable fonts for your documents. High contrast with the backdrop and text sizes that are easy for consumers to read is required. Make fonts larger if there are any elderly or visually challenged users among your user base.

2. Colours in layout

To communicate branding and create an appealing style, colours must be constant and provide readability, and they frequently have to convey an informational hierarchy.

3. Branding

Users are more aware of their location online thanks to branding, mainly the company logo. The top-left corner of the screen is the best location for the logo based on eye movement patterns. When visiting the website for the first time, people who read from left to right are likelier to look in this area.

4. Navigation

Users must get from position A (the point of entry) to point B (wherever they would like to be) as quickly and conveniently as feasible to benefit the most from a website. To make the shift more accessible, it is necessary to include helpful navigational systems, particularly (for more significant sites) search capabilities.

D) The content

The website copy may or may not be written by the web designer, but how that copy is presented on the page affects how users interact with it.

1. Paragraphs

To avoid the user feeling overwhelmed by a “wall of content,” make paragraphs clear and distinguishable. Paragraphs can also benefit from the Gestalt principles to clearly show the connections between content units.

2. Headings

Utilise headings, subheadings, etc., to divide the text into manageable sections. This entails creating a plan for the uniform presentation of each title across the whole website, ensuring a consistent user experience as users explore the site.

Conclusion 

Usability is the easiness with which a user can navigate a website or use a product. Although it falls under the category of UX design, it is not in the full scope of the discipline. Designers must give special attention to three areas of usability. 

These include: (a) when utilising a design interface, users should find it simple and grow skilled at using it. (b) Using such a design, they ought to have no trouble accomplishing their objective. (c)They ought to be able to quickly become familiar with the user interface, making future visits equally simple, if not simpler.

Team EMB

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