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Starting this week, we are introducing a new series of blogs on usability and user interfaces. The first in the pack is here.

To begin with, What is usability? The simple answer is: Usability is a term used to measure the quality of users’ experience and ease of use with a given system. (We are limiting our scope of ’system’ to be that of a computer software system – either standalone or web based). Usability quantifies the extent of satisfaction or irking that a user experiences with respect to the system.

It is extremely critical for any project’s designers and architects to make a system that can be used with ease. Studies have proven that the easier a system makes a user comfortable with itself, the more are its chances of achieving its specific objective. With terms like ‘conversion’ and ‘bounce rate’ taking such a crucial importance in any project’s planning and execution, we can’t just afford to keep usability and User Interfaces (UI) out of the picture. Can we?

World Usability Day

World Usability Day is celebrated on 8th November.

Coming straight to the point, a well designed User Interface may just make your deal. Your website is the face of your business on the internet and the home page is the face of your website! You don’t want to show an ugly face for your business. Nobody does! So, without missing a beat, here are a few quick pointers you would want to consider while (re)designing your home page next time.

  • Keep the most important content above the fold.
    You might recall from the last post:

    It is most essential that the first thing your lead notices is the stuff you want him to see first. So, keep the most important information visible without requiring too much scrolling.

  • The Home Page should be accessible from anywhere.
    Keep a link of the homepage on every big-small page of your website. Also, please note that while there are users who know exactly where to find what, you may also have visitors having very trivial knowledge of the Internet. For the convenience of such guests, do have a link titled ‘home’ on each page of your website.
  • Let your stuff be discovered.
    It’s very important that your website’s visitors get what they came looking for on your website. So, let the most important elements of your website be made available right on the home page.
  • Send the right message to your guests.
    The contents of your homepage should subtly inform your visitor what exactly the website is all about. With goal conversion taking top priority in web-design principles, you don’t want to turn people away after they’ve spent an hour wandering hopelessly on your website.
  • The home page must look like one.
    Make sure that your home page always remains the alpha one of your website. Always remember that users expect certain elements on the home page (e.g. sitemap, search feature, contact details, testimonials). Let these elements always be present in your homepage. Also, your website is properly optimized for search engines if your homepage is indeed the main page.
  • Don’t stretch it too much.
    KISS – Keep it simple, stupid! No offenses, but sometimes the best way of doing something is to do it in a simple way. Keep your homepage short, meticulous and yet comprehensible. Do not scribble too much content in it and don’t just keep it all blank and dumb.
So here we are. Keep these few pointers in mind while designing (and more important while visualizing) your website’s homepage design and create a marvel. If you are a webmaster or a web-design company, we can be your consultants on strategic User Interface designing and Usability Analysis & Optimization. Do feel free to ask for help. As always, if you like this post (and others as well, of course), do subscribe to our feed!

A special message to our readers in India: Don’t forget to cast your ballot on the election day.

Few notes:

  1. If you are really keen about knowing more about usability, you may find some great articles at http://www.usability.gov.
  2. A very interesting case study on usability can be found here.
    [PDF Format. Right click and save link/target as; Courtesy Software Usability Research Laboratory - Wichita State University    ]