The document discusses web usability, emphasizing the importance of creating user-friendly designs that require minimal cognitive effort, as outlined by Steve Krug's principle 'Don't Make Me Think.' It covers various strategies for effective web design, including clear visual hierarchy, effective navigation, and consistent messaging, while also highlighting the value of usability testing and user feedback to enhance user experience. The document concludes by linking usability to customer goodwill and the necessity of making important actions straightforward and intuitive for users.

2. “Going all the way to the edge is the only way to jolt
the user into noticing what you’ve done. If they notice
you, they’re one step closer to talking about you.”
— SETH GODIN

3. Usability
Usability is about the
ease of use of human-made objects.
This includes door knobs, spoons, washing machines,
and websites too.

4. Web Usability
• Web usability is about making a website easy to use
§ reducing unpleasantry as much as possible
§ It’s not about fancy designs and shiny buttons, but about practical &
efficient design.
• A good web design should allow the users to get to what they want from the
website as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Steve Krug, author of "Don't Make Me Think", the most highly
recommended book on Web usability, outlines his first law of Web usability:
"Don't Make Me Think"

5. The less a user has
to think about
making a decision,
the easier it is for
them to use a
website.

6. Coming next in the slides…
Some guiding principles w.r.t
Web Usability as outlined by Krug in his book

7. First law of web usability
DON’T MAKE ME THINK

8. The rule basically boils down to
making things self-evident
Examples: if it's a button make it look like one
doesn't look like a button this maybe a button this looks like a button
If it's a title, make it short, eloquent and to-the-point.
Instead of naming a link Gallery of Photographic Items, call it Photos. Requires
less thinking from your user

9. Affordances
To help emphasize the “Don't Make Me Think” rule, try to always think
about affordances, which is a quality of an object that gives the user a clue
on how it functions or should be used.
If something looks like…
…a knob – you could probably turn it
…a glass – you could probably break it
…and if it looks like a search box – you can type something in it!

10. No. 2
HOW WE REALLY
USE THE WEB

11. We don’t read. We scan.
§ Our attention spans are not that great
§ We're always in a hurry
§ We're selective about what we want
§ We know what's important to us

12. We satisfice
When given options we choose the
first immediately reasonable option
without giving much thought. We
don't consider all available options.

13. We muddle through
§ We don't figure out how things work
§ We don't usually read all instructions
§ We make assumptions – click around, and fill out
boxes without really considering implications or
accuracy of our actions or how things really work
Example:
Yahoo's search box – a survey revealed that people used to type
Web addresses into Yahoo's search box and it took them to their
desired location. They never considered that it was wrong or
changed how they accessed website because it simply worked.
To them, Yahoo was the Internet!

14. Designing pages for scanning, not reading
BILLBOARD DESIGN 101

15. Since we have established that people don't read but merely
scan pages, click around, and make assumptions, here are some
guidelines on designing for usability:
Create a clear visual hierarchy
§ Examples: Prominence. Grouping (visual-logical connection).
§ Nesting.
Take advantage of conventions
§ Don't be too smart
Break pages up into clearly defined areas
Make it obvious what's clickable
Minimize noise (busy-ness and background noise)

16. No. 4
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE
OR MINERAL

17. It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as
long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.
• Number of clicks VS click difficulty
• Three easy clicks equal one difficult click
• Users should not have to read endless instructions in order to find what
they are looking for:

18. No. 5
OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS

19. Omit needless words
• Get rid of half of the words on each page, then get
rid of half of what's left.
• Cut down Happy Talk & Instructions!
• Benefits:
– easier to get to important content
– saves time
– makes the website more organized
– makes the website more approachable

20. No. 6
DESIGNING NAVIGATION

21. Designing Navigation
• Navigation should be consistent
• Inform the user of where they are
• Inform the user of how they got to where they are
• Define the bounds and what's available on the website in
terms of content.

22. No. 7
DESIGNING THE HOMEPAGE

23. Designing the homepage
Define the identity and purpose of
your website
• have a logo
• have a tag line
What the website is about should be
immediately obvious to the user.
Important content should always be
placed in the home page in a concise
manner.
The homepage should provide easy
access to all other parts of the
website.

24. No. 8
THE FARMER AND THE COWMAN
SHOULD BE FRIENDS

25. Common Web design team arguments...
We're all web users, ergo personal preferences.
• We tend to think that all Web users are like us.
• Every person on the team has a different opinion on what makes a good
design good, according to their own professional inclinations.
• Hype culture VS craft culture
– Upper management, business development, etc. VS
programmers and designers. The burden of executing
promises provided by the hyper culture falls down to the craft
culture.
• Myth of the average user
– Every person is unique in their behavior.
• Antidote to debates: testing.
– Asking whether most people like something is not the right
approach to the solution. The question needs to be more
contextual and relevant to the problem at hand and the
intended target audience.

26. No. 9
USABILITY TESTING ON
10 CENTS A DAY

27. Focus groups VS usability tests
§ Testing with outsiders is important
§ Focus groups are good for getting initial feedback on abstract notions
such as concept and feasibility of the website
§ Little testing is better than no testing
§ Testing early is better than testing late
§ Testing early & often is more important than the type of users
§ Testing is about getting informed insight
§ Testing is iterative
How to do testing the affordable way
§ All that is needed is a PC, a person to conduct the test, a consenting
test subject and some time
Measuring results
§ Implement feedback (taken in the form of notes and actual logged
usage) from the users and then perform more tests

28. No. 10
USABILITY AS COMMON
COURTESY

29. The reservoir of goodwill
Every person has a reservoir of goodwill towards a brand - Making sure this
reservoir is full is important.
Decreasing goodwill
Hiding information, forcing users to your ways, asking for too much
information, fake niceties, making the user wait through splashes or intros,
looking sloppy and unprofessional.
Increasing goodwill
Make the things people want to do on your site obvious, be honest and
generous with information, make my life easier, put effort, have a FAQ
section, make errors recoverable, inform and apologize to the user if you
can't help them.

30. Types of usability testing
• Heuristic Evaluation (inspection)
• Prototype Testing (testing)
• Card Sorting (testing)
• Usability Testing (testing)
• Logging Actual Use (inquiry)
• Focus Groups (inquiry)
...and many more!

31. prototype-­‐interac,ve.com