Don’t make me think
Erlend Debast
Web designer at Proximity BBDO

erlend.debast@proximity.bbdo.be
twitter.com/erlend
artueel.be
Us•a•bil•i•ty
“... is the effectiveness, efficiency,
and satisfaction with which users
can achieve tasks in a particular
environment of a product.”
Bringing ease, joy
and fun to the
people around us.
Usability is
Anger Management
Internet has become part of our daily lives.
Yet, with very poor usability.
4 common situations
    & solutions
5 actually


             4 common situations
                 & solutions
1 Where the hell am I
Site logo
★   Is expected “top-left”
★   Clickable, back to home
Near-perfect
Goes back to
home or news?
“Home”
★   Is expected
★   First item in main navigation
★   English terminology is accepted
Home is
 first &
selected
First item &
  selected
Main Navigation
★   Is expected (horizontal)
★   Limit the number of items
★   “Selected” status
Simple &
straightforward
Lovely icons




                Clearly
               selected
Sub Navigation
★   Is expected (vertically)
★   Close to main navigation
★   Selected status
Close to
main nav
           clearly selected
Breadcrumbs
★   Indicates “traveled” path
★   Show site/content hierarchy
★   Alternative way of going “back”
Shows
traveled path
Plain
& Simple
Language
★   Expected near main navigation
★   ISO Standards (NL-FR-EN)
★   Indicate current language
Top right
& selected
top right, but
 not selected
2 I can’t find what I’m
  looking for...
Typography
★   Difference between titles & paragraphs
★   Links should look like links
★   Use colors & fonts to show importance
Titles orange




                               links in blue
Price in red



                                       Meta
                                   information
                                      in grey
Sans-font

             Clear CTA



italic for
  quotes
Copywriting
★   Use keywords for titles (Google loves that too)
★   Match navigation & page titles
★   Avoid duplicate content
★   Group your content, wisely
Keywords as
 navigation




  Selected
Whitespace
★   Use whitespace to create structure
★   More screensize doesn’t mean more content
★   Whitespace is sexy
Search box
★   Expected top-right
★   Average search query is 35 chars
Top right as
 exptected
Close the
navigation
3 What’s next please?
Forms
★   Default OS design is expected
★   Different length for each input format
★   Pre-format input fields/data
Where is
 home?

           This ain’t
            default
this field is
  needed




   Length that
  matches input
Error recovery
★   Show what the user did wrong
★   Indicate how they can fix the mistake
★   Stop punishing your users
★   Use inline errors with care
Inline
errors




         Default
         design
Interactive
                 inline error

                                Obvious
 Red color to                    CTA
indicate error
Progress
★   Show a process indicator
★   People love making progress
★   Group your information (obvious vs personal)
3 clear steps

                Selected



                       Default
                       design




                                What
                           happens with my
                                info?
4 Where should I click?
Call to action’s
★   People should know how to join
★   People should know why to join
★   Consistent style for your CTA’s
Consistent
  style
Consistent
  style
Consistent
                      style



Color usage baby!
5 The ever-lasting
  “above the fold”
  discussion
Life below the fold
★   People scroll, yes they do
★   Your lay-out should look “cut”
★   Make your footer usable
37signals
Search as backup




         Contact us
        information
Functional sitemap




                     Switch language
product Line up
Get to know your
    audience
It takes between 2 & 5 people to fix
70% of the most common usability issues.
Share your site statistics with all the
people involved. Not only with marketing.
A usable website can result in higher ROI
Everyone’s happy!
Erlend Debast
Web designer at Proximity BBDO

erlend.debast@proximity.bbdo.be
twitter.com/erlend
artueel.be

An introduction to Usability