Don’t Forget About the User…
December 17th, 2008
What distinguishes between exceptional websites and just alright ones?
That is a question that we continuously try to answer here at Floodlight and what we’ve found is that outstanding visual design is part of the solution. The other part that is often overlooked is considering how the end user is going to interact with your website. In tech speak this is called user interface design or information architecture. Deciding how to structure a client’s content in such a way that it is very intuitive for the user to access it is just as important as the look/functionality of the site.
We have researched this process and have come up with a list of our favorite 5 tips for improving the user experience on your website.
1. Give users incentives for filling out contact forms – Users personal information is valuable to them and they are much less likely to give that out if they don’t get some benefit from it.
2. Navigation – Frequently the navigation menus of a site are looked at as an added detail. We have found that if you focus on the type of menu structure first the rest of your site will be accessed easily.
3. Track your users – You can track user behaviors on a site by using a heatmap application such as Crazy Egg.
4. iFrames – Just don’t use them. They are a mess for users to navigate and do not display consistently across multiple browser platforms.
5. Friendly 404 pages – When users stumble upon a moved or non-existent page on your site they feel irritated. Some of this can be reduced by providing a friendly 404 page with a link back to the page they came from.
By incorporating these principals into your web design you will find that your users are more easily able to find what they are looking for on your site. Happy web building!
