Usability is an essential part of website design. From content and colour to buttons and checkout baskets, many issues need to be considered to ensure a website meets best practice standards. Here are five insightful websites that can guide you through the usability maze…
1. Useit.com
Jakob Nielsen’s usability studies and “Alert Box” posts are legendary, and deal with a wide range of online channels – from eCommerce websites and email newsletters to iPads and intranets.
2. User Interface Engineering
UIE’s founder Jared Spool is best known for coining the term: “scent of information” about the various factors that contribute to a user’s (often unconscious) decision to click on a link. The site’s free resources include articles, podcasts (often with transcripts) and blogs.
3. UX Magazine
Where to brush up on your UX (user experience design). Popular articles include “Why We Need Storytellers at the Heart of Product Development”, “Five Popular Web Strategies That Don’t Work”, and “Stupid, Stupid Client” (“clients aren’t dumb, they just don’t know what you know and don’t think about the work the way you do”).
4. W3C
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides internationally recognised standards for the internet, including the WCAG 2.0 guidelines on web accessibility, one of the fundamental subsets of web usability. The site also gives guidance and checklists for other key design aspects that impact on users with disabilities, and how to implement the principles of universal design.
5. Usability.gov
This well-rounded website is the US government’s resource on the basics of design usability. The site gives an overview of basic concepts and provides templates, best practice guidelines and tips on how to analyse a website’s usability. It also hosts active user discussions and has a dedicated section on usability on mobile devices.
