Web Usability Notes – Sharecase – UCSD 2006

What does the user want?

• Not the company history
• Not the president’s welcome

The user usually needs to accomplish a task

• Set goals
• Decide the main categories
• Create a content plan
• Create the pages
• Test the content

Stakeholders

• Writers  vs.
• Usability analysts vs.
• User interface designers  vs.
• Subject matter experts

What’s the call to action on your home page?

Quick! How can this page help you?

Users must find what they need in two minutes!

• People scan web sites – they don’t read.
• They want to find information fast!
• Avoid techno-glitz.

Let the home page be a kind of site map.

Sample: www.globalfundforwomen.org

• Consider the audience first, topic second.
• Web readers often don’t scroll down, unless they get the “scent of information”.

What makes you want to skip a page?

• Long-winded text with lots of text.
• Keep paragraphs short – 50-75 words max.

More examples

www.gerrymcgovern.com     www.useit.com/alertbox - Jacob Neilson