Usability is Simplicity |
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Think about a great example of usability today: Google. The Google homepage, in stark contrast to its competitors, is basically a search box and a search button. Sure there are a couple of other links on the page, but they are minimized and are there only for the intensely curious or advanced users. When you actually search for something on Google, the result page is equally as simple. It is a list of links with short descriptions. Now I'm not saying that the success of Google is not attributed to what is going on behind the scenes, with Google's amazing search robots, spiders, and algorithms -- but it is hidden visually from the user and that is a good thing. Google's amazingly accurate search technology is not impaired by its interface because its interface is simple.
So how do you improve the usability on your website? Here are three "simple" rules.
Refine your color palette
One of the most important things you can do to improve your website is simplify the use of colors. Colors create interest and add personality to a website, but they can also create visual clutter. There are many websites that seem to take design cues from toddler toys. You know the ones, where every plastic button is represented by a different color of the rainbow. On these websites, the home button is green, the shopping cart button is orange, the contact us button is purple, etc. Instead of using color to represent categories within a site, use color to define styles. For instance, an interface is much more successful when all the buttons are a certain color, all the headlines are a certain color, and all the links are a certain color. When a visitor links from page to page, the color styles create a theme that is easy to follow. For instance, look at the following two sentences.
We sell fresh fruits like apples, bananas, limes, and pears.
We sell fresh fruits like apples, bananas, limes, and pears.
Even though the first sentence, because of its color literal translation, seems like it would be more helpful to the user, it is actually the second sentence that is much easier to read and lends itself to greater usability. Another way to refine you color palette is to reduce the overall number of colors used on your site. This may be difficult, not because choosing three colors is hard, but because choosing the right three colors is hard. An easy way to get around this dilemma is to choose a vegetable or fruit that has a pleasing color to you. Then cut open that fruit or vegetable and use the natural color scheme as your color palette. For example, a nice red apple could have the following three colors, the skin is dark red, the inside is light cream, and the seeds and stem are brown. That is a great color palette. You could also choose an avocado, a watermelon, a cantaloupe, a potato, etc. Let nature do the work for you.
Reduce the button to feature ratio
Every feature does not need its own button! This is a mistake that seems to happen a lot, especially for those that are striving to be innovative. Rather than showing restraint, there is a tendency to want to make visible each exciting new feature that is part of the new website or web application. Have you ever been to a website where there are so many choices, you don't know where to begin? A website should make a new visitor feel like an expert within seconds. That is the key to usability. Think of a remote control for your audio video equipment at home, or for most people, remote controls. Have you ever tried to explain to someone else the sequence of buttons you need to push in order to activate a certain part of your audio video setup? It can be frustrating and confusing. Now contrast that to learning how to operate an iPod. I believe that the reason the iPod is widely popular is because it is so incredibly simple to use. It takes only a few seconds to learn and no instruction manuals are needed. It is amazing how easy it is to skip around the iPod interface and select one song after another with ease. There are advanced features, like rating songs with 1 to 5 stars, but they are hidden within the interface and are not obvious to the casual user. This should be the same technique you apply to your website. Keep the features that everyone needs and wants always available, but put the advanced features around the corner. Your advanced users will find and use them.
Leverage expectations
I remember a moment, when working on a web project a few years ago, that we brought all of the elements of a particular web application together and one element wasn't working quite right. We found that the designer who worked on it created something that was very interesting on its own, but when integrated with the rest of the application, didn't function properly. I asked the designer why and she said that she did a few things differently and wanted to "reinvent the wheel" on this one. I turned to her with a smile and replied, "Please, if you are going to reinvent the wheel, make sure it is round." I feel the same way about website design today. Many times, in an effort to think outside the box, we attempt to redo elements that have expected behavior, elements that users rely on to work a specific way. When an element doesn't work as expected, the user can become impatient and leave the website frustrated. They may even think it is broken. For example, if you use underlined and colored text for emphasis like this, example, a web user would assume that it is a hyperlink. If they clicked on it and nothing happened, they would probably assume that it was broken. There are many conventions that web users rely on to navigate around the web. Reinventing them can be dangerous and it is much more innovative to leverage expected behavior in exciting new ways than it is to try and break it and force users to learn new behavior.
The Pop Art Design Team is a group driven by innovation through usability. We pride ourselves on creating websites that are creative while at the same time, simplifying the user experience. If you are interested in creating an innovative and highly usable new website, contact us today and we will work with you to achieve amazing results that will please your visitors, make them feel like experts, and leverage their expectations.
If you have questions about usability or are interested in discussing the usability of your website with a web site usability consultant, please call Pop Art sales at (503) 242-4292 ext. 111.