How to build a usable website, some tips and tricks. (part1)

1. Know who you are designing for,

Make sure you know who visits your site and who you want to visit your site. You must know why people visit your website, what they are looking for, how they look for it. Only if you know who your user is and what he/she really wants you can cater for these needs and tweak your website and content according to these needs.

2. Visitors should always know where they are

Nobody likes to get lost, not only in real life but also online, we want to be able to orient ourselves. Provide your visitors with sufficient and correct location feedback. There are several ways to do so which often are combined.

This telecom site uses visual feedback in the menu structure combined with a breadcrumb-trail. This gives the visitor a clear view on the structure of the website even if they land on this page via a search engine.

Location feedback in the menu and breadcrumb (source: www.telenet.be)

3. Indicate to the visitor what you have to offer

You have less than 10 seconds to prove yourself. Due to the huge amount of online content visitors tend to decide in less then 10 seconds if they think the website is worth spending time on. So let your visitor know what you have to offer, why you are there,…

This homepage does not reveal its purpose at the first glance. Visitors who do not now Accenture need more than 10 seconds to find out what their purpose in life is.

No clear goal from the homepage (source accenture.com)