Even people who have no idea about usability feel the need to write articles about it to tell other people what they themselves should be doing. Usability has become a hot topic and everyone wants a piece of it by writing their own list of guidelines. Most of which end up just repeating what the other guy said. Yet even with the endless amount of articles on usability, there are still a lot of web designs that overlook easy ways to improve the usability of their design.
While there are many worthwhile guidelines to follow about usability, it really boils down to only two rule of thumbs. Those two are to make it easy to read and make it easy to find stuff. No matter what you do with your design, as long as you follow those two rule of thumbs then your design will be usable. Don’t stop there though and be satisfied. Take it to the next step and make it as aesthetic as possible and make it better all while still making sure your design follows the two guidelines.
Make it easy to read
1. Keep distractions to a minimal. This is especially important in the content area as that is where your readers will spend most of their time when they are on your blog. But that doesn’t mean you should neglect taking out anything in other areas that doesn’t really serve a purpose in your blog design as well.
2. Build a hierarchy that establishes a flow where there is less emphasis as it goes down in the list. For example, headings should pop more than links and bold texts. The sidebar should be capable of attracting attention, but not too much that it overpowers the content. You get the idea.
3. Keep the design of each area consistent. This lets the reader know that they are reading information that are closely related to each other due to their similarity. This also lets people block off different areas in their mind that they don’t need at the moment so they can focus on reading a specific section without their eyes wandering around trying to figure where a specific area begins or ends.
Make it easy to find stuff
1. Identify what people are looking for or what you want them to find. Then make it ridiculously easy to find if it is that important to you or them. Don’t just have one pathway/entry for a reader to be able to find it. Make multiple pathways/entries to it so if they miss one there are other ways for them to find the important stuff.
For example, if getting more subscribers is important to you then make a rss button that pops, ask people to sign up at the bottom of a post and make a cool design so people will see it, and create a special subscribe page.
2. Take away anything unimportant and be ruthless about it. So what makes something important or unimportant anyways? In blog design, if you take away something and it decreases your blog’s ability to achieve your goal whatever that may be, then that something would be pretty important.
But if you take it out and it doesn’t hurt your blog’s performance, then by all means rip the sucker out. It will improve your blog design by decreasing the amount of unimportant stuff that can get in the way of a reader who should be looking at your most important stuff.
3. Label everything or at least make it clear what they are looking at. Don’t assume that people will be able to tell what they are looking at or that they will draw the same conclusion as you. A thousand people can look at the same thing and come up with different descriptions of what they saw so save them the trouble and just tell them what it is.
Conclusion
Don’t stop at following these two guidelines and being satisfied. Take your blog design to the next level by making it better.
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References
1. First photo from Andre flickr.
63 comments
I unleashed my technophobic mother on the internet a few months ago, she’s in her fifties and although she’d done a bit of word processing a work she’d almost never used the web.
The most intriguing thing about seeing a complete novice trying to use websites was how much she struggled to find page navigation. We’re so used to having navigation links in certain places (in the header or near the top of a sidebar usually) that we often don’t think to actually put a ‘Navigation’ label. She repeatedly had to ask me how to change pages.
The other thing was submit/search buttons. If it didn’t look like a button, or it had a image instead of text (like people using the magnifying glass instead of saying ’search’), she had to ask me what to do.
Vinh-
I think you are missing one important bullet. Standardization/Best Practices. IMO opinion this is where designers make a mistake not incorporating industry best practices in their design. For example, does a link look like a link. Seems simple enough but designers are surprised when conducting usability studies how and why people get lost in their sites. While I agree this can be subjective the more you can make a consistent experience the better off you are. We fail as designers when a users action does not perform to the users expectations.
Great article. If you’ve never read any of his stuff before, seriously look into Jakob Nielsen. His work and research is really impressive.
Ignore Jacob Nielson, he created the worst website ever. Usability is about serving your target audience.
Best practice and standard will not help you if you are a crap designer/developer.
Design and develop for your target audience. Ignore shits like this.
Do something that is worthwhile NOW.
I hear ya Ben, but you know what I am going to bring up….Myspace. The design is horrid, the usability abysmal, yet its gained immense traffic that we can only dream of. Its fine to say that its about talent, but do stay aware of the marketing machine that can turn a shitty site design site into a fat cash cow.
Hi,
Thanks for a good article. Can i just say that I find your body background VERY distracting when reading your articles. It keeps drawing my eye away from the text. Perhaps something simpler might do better?
Just a thought.
Great blog btw. Some excellent stuff here.
Hi there!
Very good article.
I have to ask everybody something. I just redesigned my blog and I would love some feedback on the terms of the above article. Just clinks on my name, thanks very much!
I respect some of Jakob Neilsens ideas but his site is very unusable and confusing. The problem is that he has applied every usability concept into cocktail and it has become a very confusing site to use.
I may be wrong though!
David, I was thinking the EXACT same thing.
It is annoying as hell.
Another thing. You are writing about how everybody thinks they are correct in their assumptions of telling people how a web page should look like.
What you boys missed is to provide som info in the about page.
If you’re going t have one of those - PROVIDE information about the people BEHINd the page. This does a lot for credibility.
This is a really really good blog post. I will have a look at my website again with a few of these usability issues in mind.
I like the point about taking away things that aren’t needed. All too often I find myself trying to add things which just look cool. & Sometimes it’s hard to look at a design and think I need to get rid of this, this and this. But in the long term it’s always better to ask yourself “do I really need to include this?”
Great read.
I think an important quality that’s missing from “Easy to Read” is the colors chosen for type and background. At least in my experience, it’s always been important to find color schemes that don’t strain the eyes to much.
Of course, the type of audience will also make a difference. I’ve found that older demographics have an easier time readying dark text on light backgrounds as opposed to the other way around.
Nice read!
I simply loved this article, and I agree that designers need to focus more on end users in the design phase. I also agree that the target audience is more important than broad watered down industry standard.
I liked your article about Usability and web design. Nielsen has done a lot of groundbreaking work on usability. Unfortunately it is once again proven that tose who test usability are not neccesarily good designers as well.
Good post. Very useful information to keep in mind when designing websites. Thanks.
Thanks for writing about this. You’ve got a lot of good points. As a person over 50, though, I have to say that I have a really difficult time reading light text on dark backgrounds, especially when the contrast is extreme, the line spacing tight, and the text small (this I can change using my browser, though.)
I like the design of your comments a lot, as they are dark text on a light background, and in this case, the dark backdrop and callout style comment boxes work very well.
You might also think about better use of your “above fold” real estate. It annoyed me that your logo was so prominent and that I had to scroll down to get at the “meat.” Visually, it just doesn’t work too well.
Again, thanks for writing about this. Agreed that too little attention is given to user experience, which includes many layers of design from front to back.
Usability is king. If someone can’t see where they want to go in the first 4 seconds they will leave. I normally would agree with statement by Laura about above the fold, however, in the case of this case, where designers are searching for design inspiration and tutorials, the header of this site works. It stands out from the norm and grabs the attention of other designers making them want to see more. Great article.
Can I just throw in the obligatory recommendation for the bible aka Don’t Make Me Think! by Steve Krug. Cheers.
wow- this is too too funny - ace and I are doing the last of our design - no seriously! and I saw the article in digg, then followed it to noupe - saw this crazy picture that seemed interesting about I (heart) users - and came to your site. I told you - you are a god!
One of the things that is annoying on a website is when the navigation is poorly labeled. Things need to be intuitive enough for the majority of users to understand without having to put too much thought into. I bookmarked this post to Digg because you are spot on and anyone that has or is going to have a website needs to take usability into consideration. Thanks- Please take a look at my site and give some friendly criticism. I’m always looking for some good feedback. Thanks!
good information here - UX 101 for those getting into the industry
You have mentioned the two most important things about blog design:) Thanks for the nice post!
This is a very cool looking site design.
nice!
It would even help if you incorporate something unique into the web design since visitors are almost used to what they say everyday. Something different would attract visitors and would compel them to return to the site.
thnks i will use it i think it is important for seo
I totaly agree, the usability is very important.It is very enoying when you have to spend a lot of time to find a search for example. I think it should stay simple and clear so that it can be appealing for the usser.
Some very good points. I will keep them in mind. Critiquing your designs and streamlining them is important.
Why have you not updated in awhile Vinh? I love your sexy persuasive articles.
seo fuck you ben senin.
ulan her yerde böyle aptalca şeyleri yapıyorsunuz.
Good post! the header of this site works.
Great blog! congratulations
i totally agree usability is the first … is the quality of a site that makes easy to use, easy to remember and subjectively pleasing.
thanx for the post.
Great article. Practical and gets you thinking. Thanks.
Excellent article. Great thoughts towards cutting out the extra fluff on pages, and keeping pages to a minimum. You want to keep your visitors; not give them a heart attack.
Great article with useful information on it!
Keep up the great work!
Ovi Dogar
AbsoluteCovers.com
I have been reading so many blogs, and the link to the website I added is a perfect example of what NOT to do! one page of content, and the content is blasted with ads and only keywords to grab attention. I think this guy is using this domain name to grab traffic from a company or something, cuz I dont see why ANYONE would find this website
Hi there! Nice article, sometimes it’s very useful to have only some ideas and apply it constantly on a website. Thanks!
If we use usability as important as aesthetic it’s be Great
good thanks
Very useful article for me. These days i am learning web designing. I have one suggestion for you, if you don’t mind. Please make the text of your article white, so it will be easy for us to read thanks.
I always find here great post. Man you are doing a great job. Thanks a lot.
[... - Hi! cool info -really interesting.[... -
nic cool Thanks a lot.
It’s a real shame the poor website designs I see and work with in the industry. Sure mine isn’t perfect but I’m not lecturing on usability guidelines heh.
When I started designing standards were pretty much unheard of, Netscape had just died and everything was pretty crazy, wild and unfriendly. I guess over time you learn to appreciate clean and usable websites (i know I certainly didnt when I started).
Excellent post, cheers.
This is very interesting article about usability and web design,
Thanks for sharing
Very useful information
guzel olmus elınıze salık
Really good simple useful advice
What is the quote …
“You when that a design is complete when there is nothing more to remove not when there is nothing more to add.”
These advices are common sense too bad many don’t stick to this. I’ve seen websites so disturbing my eyes hurt. Those people shouldn’t be called designers
Great Blog very useful to all webdesigners, I suggest all designer to share this blog
Nice resources, Thanks
very nice article. Thank you.
Really nice article, your blog is a really handy resource so thanks for putting the hard work in!
Currently updating my bookmarks for good design resources so this is definitely going on the list!
Ryan
Thanks for sharing such useful tips for blog design.
Very useful article for me.
Very good advices indeed. Good rules to follow for a better web.
This is a very helpful and an awesome article. Worth reading.
super. you should continue this article, it was very interesting and very useful for me. thanks
Do as i say, not do as i do. Your design makes it hard to read your content. It was kinda hard to read “Make things easy to read”.
Really nice and great stuff.. keep writing
Some very good points. I will keep them in mind.
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