Usability on the net (using specific examples)

What is Web Usability and what it means for a website?

Web Usability never meant anything to me until now.  After extensive research I now know that it is an approach to make websites easier to use for the end user. The user should be able to navigate around the web page with ease and with the press of a button lead to where they want to go.

According to one researcher Jacob Nielson he states "Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word 'usability' also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process."

He also gives 10 useful steps for homepage usability.These explain who you are and what you do.

1. Include a one sentence tagline.
2. Write a window title with good visibility in search engines and bookmark lists.
3. Group all corporate information in one direction.
4.   Emphasize the Site's Top High-Priority Tasks
5. Include a Search Input Box
6. Show Examples of Real Site Content
7. Begin Link Names with the Most Important Keyword
8. Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepage Features
9. Don't Over-Format Critical Content, Such as Navigation Areas
10. Use Meaningful Graphics

This link at http://www.usability.gov/guidelines is excellent as it shows the exact guidelines for web usability.

The below video also goes into gravel detail on what a website should have to be user friendly.

There are many examples of good and bad web pages. We visit numerous web pages on a daily basis, some of these we navigate about easily but others we cannot do so. For example the below web page shop in paradise is a bad web page as the apperance is not great. There is far too much happening and we are just overwhelmed by everything on the screen. The main navigation is very hard to find and the banner does not stand out. The page length differs on differnt pages which can be very annoying as you got to scroll down for a long time to find what you want.They do have a search input box but we got to click on it first then enter the query.

A good example of web usability is ebay. As you can see from the below screen shot it has a white back ground and not to cluttered. The banner is easy to pick out as it is in differnt font and colour. The main navigation is short and easy to find. The scroll bar isnt to long as you can see which means it wont take long to scroll down.

Remember less can mean more espically when it comes to a web page.