What is a usable website? Here is a handful of criteria that help you to test how user-oriented and well-designed your website is.
- Orientation towards the target group. For example, a B2B website should differ from a B2C website.
- Technical usability. Those include load times, correct display on different devices, etc.
- Clear-cut and easy to use navigation. The navigation should be as intuitive as possible. Also, try to reduce the number of items in navigation to a minimum.
- Uniform design. Use the same styles, fonts, colors, etc. on each page.
- Structured content. Structure the content in a such a way that a user can easily find what their looking for.
- Clear, compact and precise text. Avoid run-on sentences, use bullet points, headlines, etc. to make the text more readable.
- Up-to-date information. Watch for outdated pages, broken links, etc.
- Accessibility (i.e. usability for disabled users). Includes color contrast, fonts, alt-texts, etc.
- Search engine friendliness. Optimize your website for SEO, however, not at the cost of worse usability.
- Well-planned layout. Your website should lead visitors along logical and clear navigation paths.
(translated and adapted from German, Web-Design course at VHB)
This list is useful for the evaluation of existing websites and designing a new website.
Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash
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